Yu-Gi-Oh! DT Academy
by Yamilord
Summary: DT Academy is about a 16 year old called Yujin Shojiki as he enrolls one of the biggest Duel Academies in the world, but this place does seem to have more going on then just class! The fanfic takes place is a separate universe then the Anime OR Manga. The game itself will be more like real life TCG, and therefore will feature no fancards. But overall it's still the same.
1. Chapter 1: And so it begins

"Are you sure you want to go?" A distinctly female voice said.

"Yes, I told you it's nothing to worry about, just need to do an easy test and I'll be ready to go." The voice of what seems to be from a teenage boy replied.

Another voice sighed and looked at the teenager, this one was male too like the teenager, but was obviously the voice of an adult. "Well, it's been your dream for years, so we can't stop you. Just don't forget, even if you don't make it to the top, we'll still support you."

Now the teenager sighed. "I told you, you don't need to worry. Just going to need to do that test. You guys have been supporting me for years. If I go there I can maybe repay you guys back for all these years. It's the least I can do."

The woman sniffed a bit. "Just be careful okay?"

"Of course, I'll be completely safe there, I'll make it and then I'll visit you guys on the holidays, okay?" The teenager replied with a smile on his face.

"And don't you go back on that promise, we can't spend a Christmas without you." The adult male winked at the boy with a small grin on his face.

"Well, I should go now, or I'll be late. See you guys later!" The boy grabbed a suitcase and ran out of the house.

"Ah, they grow up so fast" The adults said in unison smiling at each other.

"Are you nervous?" A high-pitched voice, seemingly from nowhere said as the boy stepped out of his house.

"Huh? Wait, Lazuli... is that you?" The boy looked around to see where the voice came from

"Boo!" The same mystery voice said as she appeared out of nowhere right in front of Yujin. It seemed to be a young girl wearing a grey armor which is covering her whole body, except for her eyes, which were a deep emerald green, and a crest on the chest of her armor with a gem inside.

"Don't just come out like that, what if people see you." He whispered, not wanting to attract any attention.

"Don't worry, nobody can see me, well except for those like you. You know, you should be happy to actually have a Duel Spirit."

I should probably explain what just happened, don't I? Well, first let me introduce myself. I'm Yujin Shojiki , the teenage boy in the beginning. And those other 2 people? Well those are my parents. The person who came out of nowhere? That's my Duel Spirit, Lazuli. I've known her for a month by now. Long story short, bought a new deck, and in pure coincidence I found a partner in the form of Lazuli, albeit somewhat annoying at times, she does seem to care about me. She's really nice once you get to know her.

So, you must be familiar with the term, 'Duel Academy' right? Well I've signed up for one of the biggest Duel Academies in the world. A giant island, exclusive to train the best duelists around the globe! (While still getting basic school stuff like math.).

To sign up you must be a high school graduate at the very least, and the basic ability to read and speak English, but even then you need to show you know how the game works, so in order to do that they have a 5 part test that quizzes you on: The Mechanics, Basic Rulings, Deck Building, Meta Knowledge and a practice duel.

Your score will decide which of the 3 classes you'll take and what dorm you can stay in: Slifer Red, Ra Yellow or Obelisk Blue. Each depending on certain factors, Slifer Reds are duelists who scored bad on their written tests, but managed to win their duels good enough to be allowed, Ra Yellow duelists are most of the time the opposite, good on the written tests, but didn't do too well in an actual duel, and Blue? Well either you're rich, or you're a great duelist.

Well let's go to where we left off.

"Mister, Eugene could you please come. The written test start will start in 3 minutes, mister Eugene would you please arrive. This is a last warning, if you arrive to late the test will start without you." A voice came from a little metallic box somewhat hidden behind a potted plant.

Eugene, I mean Yujin ignored the mispronunciation of his name and ran as fast as he could to through the hall of the seemingly infinitely large building and opened the door.

"Mister Eugene I assume?" A stern man said looking at the duelist, from his rather baggy clothing that looked a bit dirty, to his rather ridiculous hair. Yujin's hair was incredibly spiky with crimson red streaks and 3 big spikes pulled backwards crossing each other, again with the red streaks. It was to simply and kindly put it, unique.

"It's... Yujin." He said gasping for air after searching for his class for what felt to be hours for him, despite it only being like 15 minutes.

"Don't care, make your test."

"Fine, asshole." Yujin muttered.

"Do your best~" Lazuli said floating around the class.

The first test came up, the mechanics of the game. It wasn't that hard, just needing to explain the different kind of spells, traps and monsters and how to summon, activate cards and all that stuff. Plus it's multiple choice.

"The first half hour is up, now the computer here will scan your answers." The man came up and grabbed everyone's tests and scanned it. "You'll get your answers back in another half hour, now for the next 3 written tests."

And so it went, for basic rulings it was pretty much about the different kind of effects, ignition, continuous, etc. And about missing the timing, chain links, and some more known rulings, such as how Xyz material don't count as on the field so Sangan's effect doesn't trigger while detached as an Xyz material, it was easy to understand, but it was still a little bit tough.

The next one was deck building, you were given multiple cards and had to construct a working consistent deck. And oh boy, meta knowledge. You had to name multiple (not every) decks which were Tier 1 for the past 3 years, and given questions on the decks play styles, weaknesses and matchups... This one was surprisingly hard.

"Okay, all written tests are done and scanned, each student will get their score individually. They'll be given to you by the teacher in charge of your duel."

Yujin gulped as he walked out of the classroom and into the open field, a giant gym filled with walls to separate all the duels from each other, multiple monsters were seen flying around the stage. Yujin and Lazuli were amazed at the sight of all the monsters, it was nothing like any of the small duels they've seen before at their local card shops, these were genuine holographic monsters appearing out of the ground..

"Hey, wake up!" An unknown voice said.

"What?" Yujin said clearly confused.

"You were daydreaming. You're Yujin Shojiki right? I'm the person you need to duel." The voice said, belonging to a rather slim man, he looked to be a young adult and If Yujin had to guess his age he'd say he'd be around 22 years old..

"Ah yes, and you are?"

"Well I'm Phil Abate, but you can call me mister Abate."

Lazuli looked at Yujin and gave a good luck sign as she ran behind him to one of the duel corridors.

"Can I ask what my score is before we begin mister Abate?"

"Well, you scored a perfect 100 for Mechanics and Deck Building, a 70 for Meta Knowledge and an 80 for Rulings. You're now at 350 points, which is already enough to hit Ra Yellow."

"I don't want Ra Yellow, tell me how many points I need to hit Obelisk Blue!"

"Well, you need a minimum of 450 out of 500 to hit Obelisk Blue, so unless you score a perfect score, you'll have to do with that."

"Obelisk Blue Students get a free scholarship right?"

"Yes."

"And all I need to do to get one is beat you, while not losing a single life point? Easy." Yujin smirked.

"Oh, getting cocky are we? You know other students who're done with their duels are ready to watch, same for my supervisors, let us see if you're still cocky when you're about to lose."

Lazuli sighed."Oh boy, here we go again." She disappeared into thin air as her body entered Yujin's deck.

Both duelists walked to the small arena, if you can call it that as Phil gave Yujin a Duel Disk, it seemed to be a standard Solid Vision Duel Disk.

"You'll need one if you want to duel."

Yujin nods and he put his deck in it, as it got shuffled automatically for him.

"Students go first, okay?"

Yujin nods again as he drew 5 cards to start the duel.

"Ready, set, DUEL!" The teacher said.

 **Turn 1: Yujin.**

 **Life Points Yujin: 8000**

 **Hand Yujin: 5**

 **Field Yujin: N/A**

 **Life Points Phil: 8000**

 **Hand Phil: 8000**

 **Field Phil: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

On the Solid Vision Duel Disk there was a small screen which showed the Life Points of both players, the phases, the field (including such things as his Extra Deck and Graveyard.), the amount of cards left in his deck and the cards currently in his hand.

"I'll set 1 monster, and I'll end my turn." A giant card appeared laying down on the field horizontally, albeit floating in the sky.

 **Turn 2: Phil**

 **Yujin:**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: (1 Face-down)**

 **Phil:**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

"Since I go second, draw!"

"First, I activate the continuous spell card: **Spellbook Star Hall.** " The walls around them turned into a giant hall, with some rather nicely decorated mosaic windows with a big book appearing above them, shining a light-blue light.

"Now, I summon **Spellbook Magician of Prophecy**! ( _ **WATER, Spellcaster, level 2, ATK: 500, DEF: 400**_ ) a young boy in blue clothing appeared, reading a book he held in his hand.

Now when he's Normal Summoned I can add 1 "Spellbook" Spell card! I add **Spellbook of Secrets!** Which I'll immediately activate! It allows me to add 1 Spellbook card, except for another **Spellbook of Secrets.** I'll add **Spellbook of Powers**.

Another book appeared opening up its pages, only for a red book to appear out of it and it was added to Phil's hand. Then the big blue book that was floating above the two duelists shined even brighter as a black orb with a yellow upside-down pyramid on it appeared above it. "Each time a Spellbook is activated my Star Hall will add 1 _Spell counter_ , and for each one all my Spellcaster monsters gain 100 ATK."

 **Spellbook Magician of Prophecy (ATK: 500+100=600)**

"Now I'll use **Spellbook of Power** and the Field Spell: **The Grand Spellbook Tower** , with Power my monster gains another 1000 ATK And another 200 for Star Hall **"** The Giant Floating book shined once more as 2 more counters appeared while the young magician got engulfed in a red aura from the Spellbook of Power, but that wasn't it as behind him an enormous tower was rising from the ground. However due to its enormous status it seems that part of the tower was clipping through the roof.

 **Spellbook Magician of Prophecy (ATK: 600+1000+100+100=1800)**

"We probably should've done an outdoors duel, oh well already inside." Phil said to his opponent, who was awfully quiet the whole time.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now, I'll attack your facedown monster! Power Strike!"

The boy shot a ball of scorching red flames at the face-down monster hoping to destroy it.

"Flip **, Gem-Turtle**." **(EARTH, Rock, Level 4, ATK: 0, DEF: 2000)** Yujin flipped his monster face up revealing a brown turtle with a green shell made purely out what seemed to be a giant emerald, and was even wearing a green collar made out of it.

"Damnit, 2000 Defense?!" Phil said as the fireball got reflected of the shell and sparks of it hit Phil directly.  
 **  
Phil: Life Points: 8000 - 200. 7800 LP**

"FLIP effect activated, I'll add 1 **Gem-Knight Fusion** to my hand. **"**

"I'll end my turn, the effect of **Spellbook of Power** wears off."

 **Spellbook Magician of Prophecy (ATK: 1800-1000=800)**

 **Yujin:**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Turtle (2000 DEF)**

 **Phil:**

 **Life Points: 7800**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Spellbook Magician of Prophecy (800 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: Spellbook Star Hall (Continuous), The Grand Spellbook Tower (Field)**

"Cat got your tongue? You stopped talking all of a sudden, what happened to your promise to beat me without losing a single Life Point?"

"A Duel says more than words mister Abate, a teacher like you should know. DRAW!" Yujin drew 1 card as he looked at it and smiled. "First I summon **Gem-Armadillo**!" **(EARTH, Rock, Level 4, ATK: 1700, DEF: 500)** A yellow-orange colored armadillowith a bit of brown appeared, it had no hind legs and therefore stood on its tail, it also had 2 rockets strapped on his back

"Using his effect, I'll add **Gem-Knight Obsidian** , then I activate the spell card **Gem-Knight Fusion** , I fuse **Gem-Turtle** and **Gem-Knight** **Tourmaline**! Beast carrying sacred gems! Gem tinged with Lightning! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! **Gem-Knight Zirconia!** "

The Turtle and a yellow knight appeared next to each other fusing into as a giant knight who is wearing incredibly bulky armor, had a dark-blue cape and where his hands should be were giant hammer-like hands with a clear gem made of zirconium on it. **(EARTH, Rock, Level 8, ATK 2900, DEF: 2500)**

"Now, I activate the spell card **Foolish Burial** , with this card I'll send **Gem-Knight Lazuli** from my deck to my graveyard, and when she's send to the graveyard by a card effect I can add 1 Gem-Knight normal monster to my hand from my graveyard, therefore I add back **Gem-Knight Tourmaline,** Then I use the second effect of Gem-Knight fusion, by banishing 1 Gem-Knight from my graveyard, I'll add it back to my hand."

"Wait you don't have any Gem-Kni- Wait.. The Lazuli you send with Foolish Burial... "

"Yep, now I can Fusion Summon once more. Gem tinged with lightning! Sharp jet-black darkness! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! The one who pursues victory, Gem-Knight Topaz!" **(EARTH, Thunder, Level 6, ATK 1800, DEF: 1800)** The Yellow knight appeared once more, only to fuse with a knight wearing jet-black armor this time, this time in their place was a tall knight wearing a darker, but more sleek yellow armor compared to Tourmaline, like all the other gem-knights it had the same crest on his chest.

"Now, when Obsidian is send from the hand to my graveyard, I can target 1 Normal Gem-Knight Monster and special summon it from my graveyard, come back Gem-Knight Tourmaline!" The smaller Yellow Gem-Knight appeared with lightning orbs circling around him. ( **EARTH, Thunder, Level 4, ATK: 1600, DEF: 1800)**

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"First things first, Topaz attack blue boy!" Topaz ran towards the Magician as he charged his 2 tonfas with lightning and then striking at him with full power.

 **Phil: Life Points: 7800-1000=6800 LP**

 **"** Activate the effect of Topaz, you take damage equal to the destroyed monster's original attack." Topaz charged up once more as he shot a lightning bolt at Phil.

"Ugh..."  
 **Phil: Life Points: 6800-500=6300**

"Also Topaz can attack twice... so let me see, 1800+2900+1700+1600=8000. You lost."

"Wait Wha-" before he could even finish his sentence all 4 monsters attacked causing him to get send straight into a wall.

 **Phil: Life Points: 0, LOSE.**

 **WINNER: Yujin Shojiki**

"So... I'm an Obelisk Blue student now?"

".Did I just get OTK'd?"

"Yes you did, now tell me, do I become an Obelisk Blue Student now?"

"Y-y-y-y-yes. "

"K, so... how do we leave to the Giant Island?"

"The Duel Disk has a built-in ticket, just show it and you can enter."

Yujin left Phil just standing there as he looked amazed at how easy he was defeated.

"Now I just need to call my pare-"

"What was up with that?" A familiar voice said, it seemed to be from Lazuli who had entered her Duel Spirit form again.

"Up with what?" Yujin was somewhat confused.

"You only used my as fodder to get Tourmaline back!"

"And Gem-Knight Fusion, not my problem you're so weak stat wise."

Lazuli glared angry at Yujin.

"But that doesn't matter though, if it wasn't for your effect I wouldn't have OTK'd him, and he could've inflicted some damage on me, so without you I wouldn't have become an Obelisk Blue, now how about we celebrate? I heard we go there via a giant cruise ship, we can eat some pudding."

"Pudding!" Lazuli said gleefully

"Man, aren't you easy to keep happy?" Yujin smiled

"Also thanks for the compliment by the way." The young girl said giving Yujin a hug.

"No worries, you're still my partner Lazuli."

Yujin and Lazuli walked away to a giant cruise ship, as he entered he revealed his Duel Disk and was given a key to a room, which he promptly entered.

"Time to see if this is the best choice I've ever made, or the worst mistake."


	2. Chapter 2: Familiar setting

Yujin and Lazuli were walking around inside of the cruise ship's restaurant.

"I've never seen so many desserts in my life." Yujin said walking around the all you can eat buffet.

"I can't believe the first thing you did when you arrived was fall asleep in your room." His partner replied.

"The beds were really comfortable okay, now hush and let me get some food, I skipped breakfast anyway. At the least I managed to call my parents, I swear I could hear mom cry tears of happiness over the phone." Yujin was grabbing some food while he was talking.

"Get me a pudding please, you promised me one." Lazuli tapped her foot, as she was a bit impatient.

"Too many sweets are bad, you know? Don't you need actual food to grow?"

"Well, yeah, kind of, I mean I'm not exactly human you know."

"I've got one question though, how do you even eat? I don't see a visible mouth on your body and you're a spirit on top of that too."

"Do you really want to know?"

"Not really, let's just go eat something."

As he grabbed some orange juice Yujin decided to look for a table to sit, finding a place wasn't easy however as there were a lot of other students trying to find a table to sit at too. As Yujin was walking through the mass of other students to find a single table he ended up tripping with everything on his plate spilled over the ground.

"Damnit." He stood back up as he looked at what caused him to trip.

"My pudding!" Lazuli tried to pick the pudding from the ground but it was pretty much everywhere on the floor.

"Hey are you okay? That fall must've hurt." A hand reached out to Yujin to help him stand up.

"I'm okay." Yujin brushed himself off and stood up on his own, and looked up at the person who offered him a hand, it seemed to be a boy around his age, but he was somewhat taller than him, but looked somewhat more frail and paler too compared to Yujin, furthermore his hair was quite different, as he just had short chestnut brown hair.

"You sure?" He looked at Yujin.

"I'm sure."

"Say, I think I've seen you, I saw your duel, weren't you the guy who managed to defeat your opponent in one turn?"

"So what? He was an easy opponent."

" I wish I fought against an easy opponent, I had to face _Dark World._ "

"Ouch."

"Ouch indeed, I had to topdeck to win, but thanks to that duel I ended up in Slifer Red, say what's your name? I'm Lucian Konstantinu." He said as he reached his hand out.

"Yujin Shojiki. I'll see you around, just going to get some more food." Yujin walked away.

"You know, you were quite rude against that guy you know, he offered to help you stand up, you refused. He offered you a handshake and you refused, heck you just left without a good reason." Lazuli looked disapproving at him.

"I do have a reason."

"And that is?" She questioned.

"I'm hangry."

"…Really?"

"Yes."

Lazuli facepalmed and groaned a bit as Yujin left to grab more food, luckily the place seemed more empty now so Yujin finally managed to find a spot to sit.

"Well that took me long enough to find a spot." Yujin remarked as he passed some pudding to Lazuli.

"I still think you should go back to him, at the least apologize." as she somehow took a bite of the pudding.

"Can I just eat for once without you nagging my head off?"

" I'm just saying it for your own good, I mean wouldn't it be nice to get some friends here?"

"I can survive without friends, plus I'm pretty sure we'll meet again." Yujin took a bite out of his bread.

"And how are you so sure of that?"

"Because." He said while taking a sip from his juice.

"If you say so then."

"If you really want I'll go find him after I've eaten okay?"

"You swear?"

"I swear on my deck." Yujin said trying to reach in his pocket for his deck.

"Yujin, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find my deck, but I can't."

"YOU LOST IT!?" Lazuli shouted, if she weren't a spirit everyone in the ship would've heard it.

Yujin was frantically searching for his deck. "I swear it was in my pock-... Wait when I tripped, and then he showed up, so… THAT DUDE STOLE MY DECK!" Yujin slammed his fists on the table

"I can't believe this is happening, we need to find him!"

"You're right." Yujin finished his food and quickly drank all of his juice and stood up.

"Here we go!"

Both stood up and ran as fast as they could, searching for Lucian everywhere. They looked everywhere, from the poop deck to the arcade the cruise ship had, to even the bathrooms, but wherever they looked he wasn't there.

"Damnit, where is he?"

And as if right on cue another person walked by, he looked somewhat older then Yujin and was already wearing his Obelisk Blue outfit.

"Looking for something?" The student said with a smirk on his face.

"Yes."

"Is it perhaps a deck?" The smirk on his face grew even wider.

"... How did you-"

The student pressed his fingers to Yujin's lips to silence him. "Hush, let us not make it more uncomfortable, if you want your deck, you should come with me."

"I'm sorry, am I getting dragged into a gang war now?"

"Just come with me."

The student dragged Yujin along the cruise ship, until they stood in front of a door with an Employee Only sign.

"Pretty sure we aren't allowed to enter that."

"The sign is just for show, second year and up students can enter this place whenever they want."

"Wait, you're not a first year student?"

"Of course not, other students went on a vacation too, so they need to get back one way or another."

"Makes sense."

As Yujin walked in he saw the room was much bigger on the inside then what he thought, it looked like a giant man cave inside, it even had a giant flat screen, a pool table and a lot more. Yujin's jaw dropped in disbelief as he scanned the room for more people, he then saw 2 more Obelisk Blue students walked to Yujin.

"Oh you must be the guy who lost his deck." One of the students said dragging Yujin with him.

"Why don't you take a seat?" One of the other students offered Yujin to sit on their rather luxurious couch.

"No thank you, just give me my deck and I'll be gone."

"Aw, but then you'll miss the fun, and your initiation."

"Hold on, initiation? Is this one of those stupid rituals people have to do?"

"Yeah." All 3 Obelisk students said at the same time.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't beat you guys up."

"Beat us up? You really think you can take on 3 people at one time?" One of the 3 remarked.

"Yujin, don't you try to punch them, you know you can solve it in a different way." Lazuli stepped in and tried to calm Yujin down as he took a deep breath and smiled.

"Fine, what do I have to do to get my deck back?"

"Well you see, each year we Obelisk Blue students here pick 2 students: One Blue, one Red."

"We make the Red student steal the deck of the other." The other student continued.

"And make the Blue student duel to get his deck back." The third one finished,

"So, what happens if I lose?" Yujin looked at all 3 of them, not liking where this was going.

"You better get a new deck then."

"So the dude I was talking to-"

And as if right on cue he appeared, though he looked more depressed at Yujin

"Look I'm sorry, but-" Lucian said, trying to ask for forgiveness, only to be cut off by Yujin

"Don't talk, lets duel."

"Huh?" Lucian was somewhat confused

"A duel says more than words. And this duel will explain everything."

Both duelists grabbed their duel disks and Yujin got his deck handed back by him.

"Don't you try to run off with it." One of the Obelisks Blue students said.

"I won't, now let me just duel."

Both players drew 5 cards from their deck.

"Ready, set, DUEL!" The 3 Obelisk Blue students said at the same time.

 **Turn 1: Lucian**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

"Okay, I go first!" Lucian looked at his hand for a second then back at his opponent, his meek expression he had a few minutes ago turned into one of determination, as if he had something to prove for himself.

"First, when I control no monsters I can special summon **Photon Thrasher**!" _**(Light, Warrior, Level 4, ATK: 2100, DEF: 0)**_

A humanoid being made out of pure blue light wearing a somewhat weird armor and holding a sword appeared.

"Next up I normal summon the tuner monster: **Vylon Cube!** " ( _ **Light, Machine, Level 3, ATK: 800, DEF: 800)**_. A weird cube shaped machine with arms appeared on the battlefield, inside of it seemed to be a weird glowing golden orb.

"A tuner monster? So that means, you're going for a level 7 Synchro now huh?"

"Yep! I tune my level 4 **Photon Thrasher** and Level 3 **Vylon Cube**! Great being who observes from the heavens, appear from the fourth heaven! Synchro Summon, **Vylon Delta!"** (Level 3+4=7) _**(Light, Machine, Level 7, ATK: 1700, DEF: 2800)**_

A portal opened in the sky as thunder began to crack as a giant mechanical angel appeared from the heaven. It had a humanoid upper body with the roman numeral for 4 engraved on it, but a red spike with a golden spiral surrounding it. On the back of it were two giant metal wings and there was a triangle in the shape of the uppercase Delta Symbol, while the rings on its arms resembled a lowercase Delta Symbol. It was floating in the sky and held its hands crossed in front of it as it was summoned in defense mode.

Yujin looked at the menacing angel, the power he felt from it was unbelievable.

"Now, Cube's effect! When it's send to the graveyard for the Synchro Summon of a Light monster, I add 1 Equip Spell Card to my hand! I add **Vylon Segment** , which I'll immediately equip to my monster!" A weird futuristic weapon got equipped to one of Delta's hands as purple lightning appeared in between the two ends of the weapon.

"When I equip this card to a Vylon Monster it cannot be targeted by monster or trap card effects of my opponent! Now I'll end my turn! And in the end phase if Delta is in Face-up Defense mode I can add 1 more Equip Spell card! I'll add **Vylon Material**!"

 **Turn 2:Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Vylon Delta (2800 DEF)**

 **Spells/Traps: Vylon Segment (Equip Spell, target: Vylon Delta)**

"DRAW! I'll normal summon **Gem-Armadillo**!" _**(EARTH, Rock, Level 4, ATK: 1700, DEF: 500).**_ A familiar creature appeared once more to Yujin's side.

"I'll use its effect to add Gem-Knight Obsidian to my hand, then I activate the spell card **Gem-Knight Fusion** , I fuse **Gem-Knight Obsidian** and **Gem-Knight** **Sardonyx**! Sharp jet-black darkness! The brilliant Sardonyx of good fortune! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! **Gem-Knight Zirconia!** " _ **(EARTH, Rock, Level 8, ATK 2900, DEF: 2500)**_

And again a familiar being appeared, it slammed down its fists to the ground as it glared at Vylon Delta.

"Obsidian's effect activates, when send from the hand to the graveyard I can special summon 1 Level 4 or lower Normal monster in my graveyard, and since Sardonyx is a Gemini monster he counts as a Normal Monster in the graveyard! Special Summon, **Gem-Knight Sardonyx**!" _**(Earth, Pyro, Level 4, ATK: 1800, DEF: 900)**_

A knight appeared wearing a bulky round armor, made out of mostly brown Sardonyx, it had a giant chain and ball in its hands, made out of red Sardonyx, it wore the crest of the Gem-Knights on his hand.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now then, Zirconia, smash his monster!" Zirconia rampantly went after Delta while he tried to block the attack over and over and tried to counterattack with its Vylon Segment, but Zirconia's raw strength proved to be too much as it stroke down Delta with both fists crashing it into the ground causing it to disappear, however cracks appeared on the ground.

"W-when segment is send to the graveyard I can add 1 Vylon Spell Card, I add another segment!"

"Talk about realistic, these holograms are something." Lazuli muttered

"Now my other 2 monsters will attack!"

Sardonyx jumped on top of Gem-Armadillo as he ran to Lucian, then Sardonyx attacked him with Armadillo following him up. **Lucian LP: 8000-1700-1800=4500 LP**

"I'll set 1 card and end my turn."

 **Turn 3: Lucian**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Sardonyx (1800 ATK), Gem-Knight Zirconia (2900 ATK), Gem-Armadillo (1700 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 4500**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

"When my opponent controls a monster, and I don't I can special summon **Cyber Dragon!"** _ **(LIGHT, Machine, Level 5, ATK:2100, DEF: 1600)**_

A serpent-like dragonoid machine appeared, however it wasn't alone as yet another monster appeared.

"Then I summon the tuner monster: **Vylon Stella!"** _ **(LIGHT, Fairy, Level 3, ATK: 1400, DEF: 200**_

A star shaped metallic creature appeared, with golden circles surrounding it.

" I tune my level 5 **Cyber Dragon** and Level 3 **Vylon Stella**! Great being who observes from the heavens, appear from the fifth heaven! Synchro Summon, **Vylon Epsilon!"** (Level 3+5=8) _**(Light, Machine, Level 8, ATK: 2800, DEF: 1200)**_

A gigantic creature appeared from the sky, it was even more impressive then Delta appeared, it had a V engraved on its chest and had golden rings on his arms, which somewhat resembled a lowercase Epsilon, while from the side the body resembled an Uppercase Epsilon, and to top it on its back was a giant golden arc.

"When Stella is send to the graveyard from my field I can pay 500 LP and equip it to one of my monsters!" **Lucian LP: 4500-500=4000 LP**

Stella appeared back and fused to Epsilon's chest, making the giant mechanical angel only more menacing.

"Now I equip it with **Vylon Material, Cestus of Dalga** and **Vylon Segment**!"

Two wind and fire wheels appeared on both hands of Epsilon and the Vylon Segment got equipped to one hand, while holding Vylon Material in the other.

"With Material and Dalga his attack gets a boost of 1100!

 **Vylon Epsilon (ATK:2800+500+600=3900 ATK)**

"With his effect I send one equipped card to the grave to destroy 1 monster, I send my Vylon Material to destroy Zirconia!

Epsilon charged a giant orb of light as he threw sacrificed the Vylon Material in his hand only to throw it with full force at Zirconia, who tried to resist as much as he could only to be thrown into a wall and get destroyed.

"And when Material is send to the grave, I use that cards effect to add another one to hand and equip it again!"

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"I'll attack **Gem-Armadillo!"**

Epsilon threw the Fire and Wind wheels with full force destroying the monster with ease.

 **Yujin LP:8000-2200=5800 LP**

"Thanks to Dalga's effect, when I inflict damage to my opponent, I gain that much LP!"

"Wait what?"

 **Lucian LP: 4000+2200=6200 LP**

"I'll end my turn." Despite being in the lead, Lucian looked rather worried.

 **Turn 4: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Sardonyx (1800 ATK,)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 6200**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Vylon Epsilon (3900 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: Vylon Stella (Monster, Target: Vylon Epsilon), Cestus of Dalga (Equip Spell Card, Target: Epsilon), Vylon Material (Equip Spell card, Target: Epsilon), Vylon Segment( Equip Spell Card, Target: Epsilon)**

"Damnit, I have to win, if I don't.. I lose my deck, my only ticket to survival on that island, and more importantly." Yujin thought to himself as he glanced at Lazuli who was looking worried.

"I lose my only friend."

Yujin drew a card, but realized he couldn't make any plays.

"Damnit, he's immune to monster effects, I can't do a thing against him. I'll change Sardonyx to defense position and end my turn."

 **Turn 5: Lucian**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Sardonyx (900 DEF)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 6200**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Vylon Epsilon (3900 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: Vylon Stella (Monster, Target: Vylon Epsilon), Cestus of Dalga (Equip Spell Card, Target: Epsilon), Vylon Material (Equip Spell card, Target: Epsilon), Vylon Segment( Equip Spell Card, Target: Epsilon)**

"Draw. I equip my monster with Vylon Filament! You cannot activate any spell/traps when it attack now! Then I use his effect, sending material to the graveyard and using material's effect to add it back once more and equip it!"

The card was equipped to one of Epsilon's hands as he then sacrificed Material once more in a holy ball of light and shot it down at Sardonyx blowing him up.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"I'll attack!"

 **Yujin LP: 5800-3900= 1900 LP**

"Dalga's effect!"

 **Lucian LP: 6200+3900= 10100 LP**

"Hah, I can't believe this excuse of an Obelisk Blue is losing." The Obelisk Blue students began laughing

"I… won't lose, I have too much at stake." Yujin was shivering, the thought of losing his deck was too much.

"If they use my deck, I'll lose-." Lazuli put her hand on Yujin's hand to comfort him.

"You're not the type to talk to yourself, or be this stressed buddy. You can do this, you know that."

"You're right… DRAW!" Yujin drew 1 card, as a gust of wind appeared around him.

"Huh, this card.. this can actually work. I activate the effect of **Gem-Knight Fusion** in my Graveyard, I banish Obsidian to add it to my hand."

"So that means-" One of the Obelisk Blue students said, only to get cut off by Yujin.

"Yep, Fusion Summon! I activate Gem-knight fusion! Gem tinged with lightning and the green stone! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! The one who pursues victory, **Gem-Knight Topaz** _!"_ _(_ _ **EARTH, Thunder, Level 4, ATK: 1800, DEF: 1800)**_

Yujin fused Gem-Knight Lazuli and Tourmaline and as they twirled around they combined into one creature.

"That's the same card you used to defeat Phil." Lucian examined Topaz, not sure what to expect next.

"But that monster has just 1800 ATK, that's way to low against Epsilon's 3900." One of the Obelisk Blue said in clear confusion

"I use the effect of Lazuli to add Tourmaline to my hand! Now I use **Foolish Burial** to send another Lazuli, and add Sardonyx back to my hand with her effect, now I normal summon **Gem-Knight Sardonyx."** _ **(EARTH, Pyro, Level 4, ATK 1800, DEF 1800)**_

"Again, 1800 ATK is far to less."

"Dude, is it really that hard to see I have something in my hand to make me win?"

 **Enter Battle phase**

"Now Gem-knight Topaz attacks!"

"… Is he going to suicide?" The obelisk blue students were scratching their heads.

Topaz was attacking Epsilon, but he was far too weak as he got smacked around and knocked away, but then-

"Damage Step! I activate the quick-play spell card: **Battle Fusion**!"

" **Battle Fusion**? **"** Lucian was unsure what the card did.

"If a fusion monster battles an opponent's monster it gains ATK equal to my opponents monster until the end of the damage step!"

 **Gem-Knight Topaz** ( **ATK: 1800+3900=5700 ATK)**

Topaz stood up, and holding out his tonfas he absorbed the power around him as he got covered in a yellow aura boosting his power up, he rushed as fast as he could to Epsilon and attacked it, Epsilon tried to counter attack, it tried to throw Dalga, but Topaz dodged, it tried to electrocute him using Segment and Component, but Topaz resisted it. It then tried to stab him with Material, only to get it knocked away. Topaz put the tonfas straight into the equipped Stella blowing them both up.

 **Lucian LP: 10100-1800=8300 LP**

"Stella's effect, at the end of the damage step that my monster battled with an opponent's monster, I destroy it! I destroy Topaz!"

"Topaz effect, you take damage equal to the destroyed monster's attack, and while it doesn't count the boost of the equip spell cards you'll still take 2800!"

In the explosion that happened due to Topaz attacking Epsilon both players got knocked away.

 **Lucian LP: 8300-2800=5500 LP**

"I'll use the effects of my destroyed Vylon equip spells to add: **Vylon Filament, Vylon Element, Vylon Segment and Vylon Matter!"**

"I attack with Sardonyx!"

 **Lucian LP: 5500-1800=3700 LP**

"Hah, you're good." Lucian said

"You too Lucian. I haven't had a good duel like this in a long time." Yujin smirked.

"Don't think I will go easy on you next turn!" Lucian said

"There will be no next turn Lucian! I activate the trap card **Pyroxene Fusion**!"

"Wait what? The card you had set… you're using it now?"

"Yep! It allows me to fusion summon once more! I'll fuse my Sardonyx and Obsidian! Sharp jet-black darkness! The Brilliant Sardonyx of good fortune! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! Gem-Knight Zirconia!

Obsidian and Sardonyx jumped up once more as Zirconia appeared once again. _**(EARTH, Rock, Level 8, ATK 2900, DEF: 2500)**_

And let's not forget that due to the Obsidian in my hand being send to the Graveyard, I can Special Summon Sardonyx back to the field."

"So… I lost huh, at the least I go out with a bang." Lucian stood up and spread his arms as Zirconia and Sardonyx attacked.

 **Lucian: Life Points: 0, LOSE.**

 **WINNER: Yujin Shojiki**

Lazuli jumped on Yujin and glomped him.

'You did it partner!"

Then another person came out of the shadows clapping.

"Good job, very good job."

"Who are you?" Yujin was confused.

"I'm Gabriel, Lucian's older brother."

"Huh?" Yujin was only more confused. He looked at Gabriel, the resemblance was there, both had a similar face, but Gabriel was even taller than Lucian and had blond hair. He also looked much more athletic and he had a more toned skin, compared to the pale Lucian.

"Such a disappointment Lucian, you could've done better, couldn't you? What would mom and dad say if their brilliant son got defeated so easily? No wonder you got send to Slifer Red, but you know the end of our deal now."

"What deal?" Yujin was getting even more confused.

"If I lost he'd tell my parents that I ended up in Slifer Red." He answered

"That's not that bad, I mean at the least you made it."

"I don't think you understand, you see our parents are some of the strongest duelists in Greece, and they expect absolute perfection from their children when it comes to duels, I mean look at me, second year student, and already in the 3 best duelists in this place." Gabriel sat down on one of the couches as he grabbed a soda.

"I see, so there's a lot of pressure on you isn't there Lucian? But you, to think someone's older brother can use them for their own amusement! That's unforgivable!"

"Oh, and what are you going to do about it?"

I'll wipe that smirk of your face in a duel!"

"Oh, as much as I love to duel, we're already arriving on the island in 15 minutes, too short to finish a duel against me. How about another time, be happy I'll allow you to keep your deck, and Lucian, go call mom and dad, or I will." Lucian nodded to his brother as he and Yujin left

"How can you deal with that jerk?!" Yujin shouted at him

"He's my older brother, I got used to it." Lucian looked down to the ground.

"You shouldn't just take his crap!"

"I know, I know, but you can't choose your family. I just wished I was a good duelist like him though."

"You're kidding me right? I only won because I topdecked battle fusion, you would've won that duel so bad man if I didn't!"

"Maybe so, but-"

"Dude, show some spine for once."

"I guess I should, huh. Thanks for being a pal and trying to stand up for me, and sorry for stealing your deck"

"I forgive you, but get this clear. We are not friends."

"Huh? What?"

"We're rivals from now on! We'll train every day against each other if possible okay! I'll make you get stronger, so you can wipe that smirk of your idiot brother's face! And who knows, maybe you'll climb up to Obelisk Blue." Yujin smirked as he put his hand down for a handshake.

Lucian wanted to cry, but kept the tears inside.

"Shaking my hand or what?"

Lucian grabbed Yujin's hand as he shook it.

"So, I'll see you around okay?"

"Okay Yujin."

Yujin left as Lazuli giggled.

"That was very sweet of you Yujin."

"Oh hush Lazuli." Yujin blushed a bit as he walked to the deck, he could see the island in the distance, a giant school which looked like it took up half the island, dorms and all.

"Next stop, DT Academy!"


	3. Chapter 3: First Day of School

"We'll arrive at DT Academy in half an hour, students can pick up their uniforms at the exit." The voice of the ship's captain said speaking throughout the speakers.

"Well time to get my clothing, just hope I can keep these clothes clean though…" Yujin sighed looking at his clothing, he had a horrible habit to make a mess when eating.

"I don't think you should go out man. I just went out, I don't think you can handle all the women in those uniforms." Lazuli said floating around in boredom.

"I get that I'm a dude, and I may be a bit of a flirt at times, but I won't go drool over EVERY woman or something. Plus this is a highly respected school, the females will probably have some normal clothing that won't be -" Yujin opened the door and saw students walking around, some with their school uniforms on, but others not, what really caught Yujin off guard were the female uniforms.

"Miniskirts? Seriously? " Yujin immediately shook his head and closed the door.

"Toooold youuuu."

"Oh hush, I blame my hormones. Plus, not all of them were wearing miniskirts."

"Yeah some of them are wearing pants. Just don't go crazy in awe and stare at them when you go out."

"Sheesh, I get it. I'm a dude, get over it." Yujin rolled his eyes and walked out of the door, trying to get his outfit, though trying to avoid staring at the women.

"Too many miniskirts, couldn't they at the least wear leggings…" He thought to himself as he walked to the receptionist at the exit of the ship.

"Hello, I'm Yujin Shojiki, I'm here for my uniform."

"I think we have one of your size." The receptionist, a somewhat older lady said.

"Ah, this one is should fit you, try it on at your cabin, and if it doesn't fit, we still have some other sizes left." as she found one and gave it.

"K, thanks." Yujin grabbed the outfit and walked away waving goodbye at the receptionist.

"Well, at the least I have an uniform now I guess."

"Fancy seeing you here." Lucian said as he walked past Yujin, already wearing his Slifer Red outfit.

"Oh hey Lucian, how are you doing? How did your parents take the news."

"Oh I'm fine, they were okay with it."

"Really?" Yujin said raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, my dad was disappointed, and my mom, eh she still has hope for me." Lucian sighed.

"Eh, at the least one has hope. A mother can't ever hate her children, well unless you're one of those horrible mothers, but a true mother wouldn't."

"Aha, true that."

"So… Do you like your uniform?" Yujin tried to change topic.

"Yeah I do, it's pretty comfy." Lucian smirked.

"Oh cool, but.. just to ask, your opinion on the female outfits?"

"In my opinion? I like it."

"Pervert." Yujin teased him as he friendly punched Lucian's shoulder.

"As if you don't like it. Come on, don't lie."

"Eh, I guess, but I prefer more modest or classy women. Though a tomboy is cute too, as long as they don't go tsundere."

"Is there an actual tsundere in real life?" Lucian said with a puzzled look on his face.

"You haven't talked to many women, have you?"

"Wow, rude." Lucian replied, faking being hurt by his words.

"Well, I'll be going, trying to see if it fits." Yujin waved again as he left to his cabin.

As Yujin entered he put his deck away and looked at Lazuli.

"Would you mind either entering back in my deck or leaving? I'd like to change clothing thank you very much."

"Okay, I'll see you in a few minutes." Lazuli flew through the door and waited outside.

Yujin unpackaged his clothing and decided to chance clothing.

"Hmm, there jeans are rather tight, meh I'll get used to it. And the coat is really long, it feels rather constricting too, it'd make a cool cape though." Yujin tried to put the coat over his shoulders to give it the image of the cape as he looked in one of the cabin's mirrors and laughed.

"Yeah, I look ridiculous, like one of those shounen protagonists. I'll just keep the jacket open then, they won't mind, Lucian didn't have his jacket closed too. Lazuli if you're still here you can come now."

"Okay." Lazuli went through the door and looked and Yujin.

"You know, that look fits you."

"Thanks."

A few minutes had passed as the ship arrived on the island, Yujin walked off the ship and set foot on the ground as he took a deep breath.

"Ah, the smell of my new home."

"Would new students kindly follow us? The older students can go to the receptionist and pick up their room keys already." A presumed teacher, a middle aged man said.

Yujin and a few other students followed the teachers leading them to a giant building, it looked somewhat old, yet was still in a good state. Yujin walked down the corridor with the teachers and looked to the side, it was quite magnificent on the inside, there was some art and it had a mix of modern and old style, the floors were so clean he could see his own reflection in it.

"Neat." Lazuli tried to make weird faces looking at her reflection in the floor which didn't really work as the only thing of her face you can see were her big bright eyes.

Yujin, Lazuli and the rest entered a giant classroom, which could put those of universities to shame, but before Yujin could fully take in the behemoth of this classroom the teachers walked to the side as in one of the doors another person walked in, he was bearing a golden-colored coat, similar to the Ra Yellow uniforms, he didn't look too old, maybe around his mid 20's. He had short blonde hair and clear blue eyes, he also has a rather athletic build, not too overly muscled but still looks like he could be a professional athlete of some kind, as he walked he began looking directly at all of the students, his eyes felt as if they pierced Yujin's soul as he took a few extra seconds studying him, Lazuli could feel chills running down her spine.

"Welcome students, I'm Chancellor Michael Amato and the headmaster of this school. As you should know, each student has been ranked on their test score, which classified you on which class you go to, however even the lower scored students who entered Red, might enter blue, if you stop slacking. At the end of today you can fill in a form for which classes you want to enter. School days will be for 6 days a week, Sundays will be free. They'll start at 8:00 and end at 16:00. You'll be assigned to your dorm room in a second."

Well that's what he said, but he kept talking and talking for at the least a solid 2 hours, his voice was deep and smooth, his tone was rather monotone however, and there seemed to be a clear positive bias towards other Obelisk Blue students, and a clear negative bias for Red.

"Any questions?" The headmaster asked.

"I have." a short, somewhat geeky-looking female Obelisk blue student said, she wore the regular Obelisk Blue uniform with a blue jacket over it, she had black hair with purple highlights brushed to the side and tied up in a little knot, she had a pale complexion and emerald green eyes, she pushed up her glasses as she raised her hand.

"She looks like a businesswoman with that look, that or a secretary." Yujin thought to himself.

"So, how will the school schedules be divided?" She asked.

"That will be shown when the form will be handed out tonight at dinner by one of the teachers. Does that explain it miss?"

"Yes sir."

Yujin caught himself staring as he snapped out of it, mister Amato said they were done for now so Yujin sighed as he grabbed the key to his dorm and walked down the corridor he arrived and exited.

His dormitory was rather luxurious, it looked like he walked inside of a 5 star hotel, but this was the dorm he was going to stay for the next few years. It was unbelievable for him, he opened the door to his room, which actually wasn't as luxurious as the outside, still looked like a rather comfortable place, but not as grand as the rest.

"Hey, yo." A voice said as the door opened.

"Huh, what?" Yujin dropped his bags as he looked around where the voice came from.

"Aye, I'm in the bathroom, just gimme a minute, I'll be there in a second." The unknown, but clearly male voice said.

Yujin saw 2 beds in the room, one which looked rather neat while the other looked rather messy, he assumed it belonged to the other person so he went and unpacked his stuff on the other bed. A guy of Yujin's age walked out of the bathroom wearing the Obelisk Blue uniform, he had a slightly tanned skin, brown eyes with glasses and green messy-looking hair that grew down his neck and almost covered his ears completely, one part had been brushed down to the middle to his nose, while the rest was brushed to the side, he had what could be described as an ahoge coming out of the top of his head.

"So, you must be my roommate?" The boy said reaching his hand.

"I'm Yujin Shojiki."

"I'm Zephyr Green, I know, really Green? The green hair is a coincidence, long story. So, why won't you shake my hand?"

"One: I didn't know I had a roommate, and two: You didn't wash your hands did you?"

"Ha-ha, you can trust me, I did. Also, didn't you listen to Mister Amato? Every student will have 2-3 roommates, and you will have me, so it looks like the second group arrived."

"Yeah, looks like it. Well, I'll be putting my stuff in one of the closets and I'll just be walking around campus and stuff, I'll see you later."

"Yeah sure, I'm just going to go catch some Z's." Zephyr jumped face down on his bed as he quickly fell asleep.

"Weirdo." Lazuli said.

"I sadly agree." Yujin nodded.

Yujin walked down the hallways as he looked around, chandeliers were having on the ceiling of the dormitory which shone rather bright. Yujin walked past the hallway as he noticed the cafeteria, which looked more like a classy restaurant then anything.

"Sweet." Yujin and Lazuli said in unison.

"Awkward." They said once again.

"I wonder what kind of food they will serve." Lazuli looked around to see if she could see some food.

"I wonder what kind of classes this school has." Yujin sighed and walked outside, he walked down the somewhat smaller yellow dorms, which still looked rather cozy, as he walked past those he saw a bridge over a river, he stopped for a minute to read the sign next to the bridge.

"Huh, so this leads to the dorms of the girls, that's cool."

He then walked down to a small house, it looked more like a tool shed, but seeing the amount of Slifer Red students he realized the truth.

"You're kidding me, it's inhumane to let them stay at a place like that, it's probably insect infested too… I hope Lucian's doing okay."

He walked past the red dorms and walked into the school building itself, it seemed to have its own cafeteria that served sandwiches, lots of classes and a library, as he walked past the library he could hear some music playing, and something from it felt awfully familiar.

"Does this school have an organ?" Lazuli got the shivers as she and Yujin followed where the sound came from, it seemed to lead to a giant room filled with instruments, from clarinets to piano's to organs, as Yujin followed the noise he saw a rather large and impressive organ, the person playing seemed to be one of the female students, the only student who actually asked a question during the whole two hour speech. She seemed to be skillfully playing the organ as if she had been playing it all her life. Yujin was left in a trance just listening to her play. The music however, it seemed so familiar, but he wasn't sure why.

"Hey." Yujin walked to her and gently tapped her shoulder, causing the girl to frantically stop as she got surprised.

"What?" She threw her arms up out of shock as she turned around.

"That's some pretty good music you're playing."

"Thanks, so what are you doing here?"

"Oh well, I was exploring the campus so I went inside, heard music, got curious, didn't expect this school to have an organ, nor did I expect someone to play it, especially not somebody as cute as you."

"Oh dear. Really Yujin? Really?" Lazuli visibly cringed at Yujin's attempt to flirt with the girl.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said-"

"I know what you said, don't try that ever again, but yeah this is a pretty nice organ."

"I didn't know this place had one though."

"Well in order to promote extra curriculums, they have some musical instruments. I've got to practice somewhat, so yeah."

"what, are you training to be a duelist and a musician?"

"It's a long story, now if you excuse me I'll have to go."

"Well before you go, could I have your name? It's either that or I'll to keep calling you, you, or lovely lady, or something like that."

She sighed and pushed her glasses up. "If you really want to know, it's Lucy, Lucy Lee."

"Well I'm-"

"I've already seen your duel against the instructor before, you're Yujin Shojiki. And I'm busy, so goodbye, maybe I'll see you in class."

"REJECTED!" Lazuli shouted as she laughed.

"I should punch you for that." Yujin glared at his partner.

"Oh boohoo, not my fault she didn't fall for your advances, such a shame, she looked like a nice girl."

"I guess she doesn't like flirts, I guess she's just a classy lady, unlike a certain someone else."

"What do you mean by that? I'm a perfect example of a lady!"

"Yeah right." Yujin said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to visit the library, maybe they have some manga, and sci-fi or fantasy novels." he said as he walked past the hallway and into the library, there were a few more students in there, but for the most part it was pretty quiet, Yujin walked past some books looking where he could find something of interest, there didn't seem to be much.

"Great, well at the least I found one book, meh I might as well." Yujin grabbed the book as he turned around bumping into someone as multiple books fell on top of Yujin

"Ouch, ouch, ouch." Yujin tried to stand back up, and noticed he bumped into Lucy.

"Wow, talk about coincidences." He said as Lucy tried to grab the books she dropped.

"Yeah, well I'm going to borrow these, so goodbye." Lucy stood up and left, but Yujin grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Calm down, you forgot this book." Yujin pretended to dust off the book and looked at it before handing it to Lucy.

"Bram Stoker's Dracula? I've always wanted to read that one, could I borrow it after you?"

"Yeah it's one of my favorite books, and maybe. See you around." Lucy walked away with all her books.

"Sheesh, you bump into people a lot you know."

"I know."

A few hours had passed as Yujin walked back to his dorms, dinner was about to start there so the forms were to be handed out then too. Yujin entered the cafeteria as multiple teachers seemed to be handing out the forms while students were grabbing dinner, Yujin filled his plate with rice and grabbed some lobster, some potatoes and grabbed some curry, while Lazuli managed to grab some parfait. Yujin grabbed one of the forms handed out by the teacher, which he put in his pocket and walked to one of the tables.

"English, P.E and Math are necessary classes, and first years have to take General Duel Application classes which seem to be: Basic Duel Tactics and Deck Construction. Which means I'll only have 4 different classes to pick, well I'm picking the Fusion Summon Course obviously, okay 3 left. That's not too hard, hmmm, well Duel Philosophy sounds cool, so why not. Oh you can learn multiple languages too? Well, I should probably keep practicing my Japanese, wouldn't want to lose that skill if I will have to keep talking English here. Hmm, 1 left, what now… Well, Duel History then? That sounds fun, I don't think I'll need any actual duel influencing lessons, so practicing on my Fusion summoning should be enough." Yujin filled out the form with a pencil he brought with him as another person sat next to him, it looked to be Zephyr.

"Yo, so what classes did you pick? I picked the Synchro Summon course, real duel applications, German and card advantage theory." He said showing his form.

"I picked out Fusion Summon, Japanese, Duel History and Duel Philosophy."

"Man, those last 2 sound boring, you want something that actually helps you, not actual classes."

"I'm confident in my duel skills." Yujin said eating his lobster.

"If you say so man." Zephyr shrugged as he ate some of his own lobster.

An hour or 2 had passed as Yujin as Zephyr talked a bit, not that Yujin wanted to, it was just that Zephyr didn't really like the silence, it was mostly about Duel Monsters though, such as how their duel went, or how where they came from. Zephyr revealed he's from Brooklyn, his mother however was from South-Africa, she moved to the U.S for college, and before you knew it she got married to a dude from England, and the rest is history.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." Zephyr said as he patted Yujin on the back.

One of the teachers were talking about how great it was to see so many new faces, and how great of a duelists they all were, but Yujin barely paid any attention. As Yujin and Zephyr were done they walked back to their shared room.

"I'm going to change first in the bathroom, if you don't mind." Yujin said entering the bathroom. Lazuli had entered back into Yujin's deck, after having eaten at the least 3 plates of sweets. Yujin changed into some comfortable PJ's as he went to his new bed and stepped in.

"Don't you need to change?" Yujin said yawning at Zephyr, who for some reason was wearing nothing but his underpants.

"I already did, I sleep in my underwear."

"Gross…" Yujin turned around and fell asleep.

In the morning Yujin woke up, and he and Zephyr entered their first class, Basic Duel Tactics. The class seemed to given by a tall, dark-skinned man, who was clearly bald.

"Welcome class, I'm professor Washington, in Basic Duel Tactics we go over, well basic tactics, however we explain nowadays meta and explanation of combo's and other plays recent decks can make. Today we'll start with an old favorite of mine, the Dino Rabbit combo. Could one of the students here explain it?"

Yujin raised his hand, trying to answer it, however instead the professor picked Lucy.

"The Dino Rabbit combo is where you use the effect of **Rescue Rabbit** to special summon 2 level 4 normal monsters, in this case dinosaurs to go into a rank 4 Evolsaur xyz. This combo was very popular for quite some time."

"Well done miss Lucy, I believe?"

"Thank you."

"Well then, now for another question, what is the Blue Blooded Oni FTK combo?"

Lucy raised her hand once more as the professor let her answer again.

"You activate **Black Garden,** then normal summon **Armageddon Knight,** the effect of the field spell triggers, then with Armageddon knight you send **Summoner Monk** to the graveyard and you use the effect of-"

"That's enough, I wasn't expecting anybody know how this FTK works from the top of their head here, especially since it's a 90 step combo."

Class went on as the teacher then looked at Yujin and asked him a question.

"What is the quickest way to get out a level 8 Synchro, with only 1 monster in hand."

"... Ehm…" Yujin's mind went blank as he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Summoner Monk into a level 4 tuner." Lucy replied.

"Good job Lucy."

And the next few classes went like this, despite Yujin doing pretty well, Lucy seemed to be the star student, they seemed to share almost all of their classes, except for 1, it seemed whatever Lucy used it wasn't a fusion deck, that's for sure.

As they were finally done with classes Yujin went back to the library where he bumped into Lucy again.

"Ouch, Jesus, we really have a thing for bumping into each other, don't we?" Yujin said.

"Aha."

"I just got to ask one little thing, each time I tried to answer something, even if I knew the answer, I was cut off by you. Seriously, do you have anything against me?"

"Nothing personally, I just-"

"I just, what?"

"Wanted to provoke you."

"Well good job, you kind of annoy me now."

"Good."

"So, why are you doing this?"

"A test, I was wondering how you'd solve this. Either visit me, try to forget or just duel."

"… A test?"

"I'm somewhat interested, I haven't faced many gem-knight players, let stand any good ones. And you look worth the try."

"… Am I getting pranked? As that really the reason you make me look a fool?"

"Shut up and duel me." Lucy pushed up her glasses and glared at Yujin as she walked with Yujin to one of the arena's. Both got out their duel disks as they drew their first 5 cards.

"I hope you're ready darling, because I'm going to kick your ass." Yujin said.

"You're way too confident, that's going to bite you in the ass." Lucy pushed up her glasses as she glared at her hand.

"Ready-" Yujin said.

"Set-" Lucy said, a ominous smile forming on her face.

"DUEL!" Both said in unison.

 _Fight will continue on in the next chapter_


	4. Chapter 4: Queen of the Damned

Lucy pushed her glasses up as she seemed to analyze Yujin, she then smirked, a smile similar to the ominous smile she had a few seconds ago.

"Ladies first." She said, taking a deep bow.

 **Turn 1: Lucy**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

"I'll set 1 monster, then I'll set 2 more cards in my spell and trap card zone. Now I end."

 **Turn 2: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: 1 Face-down.**

 **Spells/Traps: 2 Face-down.**

"Draw. I'll use **Gem-Knight Fusion**."

"Oh so early?" Lucy remarked.

"Brilliant Sardonyx of good fortune! Sharp jet-black darkness! In a whirlpool of light, combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! **Gem-Knight Zirconia!** " _ **(EARTH, Rock, Level 8, ATK 2900, DEF: 2500)**_

The giant Gem-knight appeared once again to Yujin's side, looking as menacing as ever.

"Now, with Obsidian's effect, I'll special summon Sardonyx!"

"Predictable, I'll use **Bottomless Trap Hole** on it."

Before Sardonyx even appeared on the field he fell into a giant pit and disappeared.

"Eh!? Well, I'll use **Gem-Knight Fusion's** effect to return to my hand!"

Lazuli slowly entered out of the deck as she looked at Yujin, she was still asleep and woke up due to Yujin.

"Wait what, we're in a duel? With that Lucy chick?"

Yujin looked at his partner and slowly nodded before looking back at Lucy.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Zirconia, smash the face-down!" Zirconia jumped in the air smashing the unknown card, only to reveal for it to be-

"You destroyed my **Vampire Sorcerer** , with his effect, when destroyed, I can add 1 Vampire card to hand. I'll add **Shadow Vampire."**

"Hold on, you use VAMPIRES?! What, you really don't look like a girl who uses that."

"I've been spreading clues on my deck if you noticed."

"Oh so that explains the book, but what were the other ones?"

"The fact I knew how the one loop works from the top of my head maybe, or maybe the fact I was playing the organ. You know, I was playing Toccata and Fugue in D minor."

"What?" Yujin and Lazuli said in unison scratching their heads.

"The one theme from Dracula."

"Oh."

"Uncultured swine." She facepalmed.

"Well, I'll set 1 card and end my turn." Yujin said.

 **Turn 3: Lucy**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-knight Zirconia (2900 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down.**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 face-down**

"I'll activate the Spell Card: **Soul Exchange.** Now I can use one of YOUR monsters for a tribute summon! I'll tribute your petty fusion to summon **Shadow Vampire" (DARK, Zombie, Level 5, 2000 ATK, 0 DEF)** A tall imposing creature appeared, it held a shield and a sword emanating a dark evil aura, the armor had crimson red symbols on it, the face was obscured by shadows, but the crimson red eyes could be seen as they penetrated right through Yujin.

"When he's Normal Summoned I can special summon another Vampire from my hand or deck, but to his summon I'll chain my trap card!"

"… What?"

"I'll use **Vampire Takeover.** If I have no card in my Field Zone and all monsters I control are zombies, I can activate the Field Spell, **Vampire Kingdom!"**

The field around Yujin and Lucy changed, it turned dark as a giant castle appeared behind Lucy and bats were swarming everywhere, a blood red moon illuminated the now dark clouded sky. Multiple houses appeared from the side, and the temperature seemed to drop multiple degrees.

"Also, I can summon 1 Vampire from my grave in Defense mode, so say hello to **Vampire Sorcerer!"** _ **(DARK, Zombie, Level 4, 1500 ATK, 1500 DEF.)**_ The demonic wizard vampire appeared in full view to the field.

"And don't forget, **Shadow Vampire** will still summon a monster! Say hello to **Vampire Duke!"** _ **(DARK, Zombie, Level 5, 2000 ATK, 0 DEF)**_ A vampire similar to the typical depictions of Dracula appeared, sporting a wicked smile.

"Then, when Duke is special summoned you'll have to send 1 card from your deck to your graveyard, from the type I declare. and I say, monsters. You have no normal monsters in your graveyard, therefore, you can't send Lazuli to +1. And you having less targets to fuse with will help me."

"So, that's why you used bottomless on my Gemini instead of Zirconia huh, genius move if I have to say, well I'll send **Gem-Turtle."**

 **"** By the way, that was not everything. Thanks to my Field Spell, once per turn when a card is send to the grave from your deck, I can destroy 1 card, then send 1 vampire to my graveyard from my own deck. So goodbye backrow! Now I'll send **Vampire Grace** to my graveyard."

"Tch." Yujin destroyed his **Battle Fusion**.

"I would like to enter the Battle Phase, however, due to **Shadow Vampire's** effect, only Duke can attack this turn, however due to **Soul Exchange** , I can't attack anyway this turn."

"Well, what will that do if you can't attack me?"

"I overlay the Level 5 **Shadow Vampire** and **Vampire Duke!"**

"What!?" Yujin looked in terror at a black hole opening in the middle of the field as the 2 monster turned into 2 dark orbs flying around it, then entering it."

"With these 2 monsters I build the Overlay Network! Xyz Summon! Rise from the depths of hell! Ruler of the Night, King of the Vampires! Noble Knight of the Bloody Moon! Crimson Knight, Vampire Bram!" _**(DARK, Zombie, Rank 5, 2500 ATK, 0 DEF)**_

The armor of Shadow Vampire rose from the black portal as a mist enveloped it, a body appeared in the mist. It had long white hair, a completely lifeless and pale face, and the same red eyes that felt as threatening as ever.

"Sheesh, you sound like you have the worst case of Fangirl now."

"Looks like I haven't broken you hard enough, I wonder what happens when I'll steal your monsters!"

"Say WHAT?!"

"I'll use Bram's effect, by detaching 1 xyz material, I can summon 1 monster from your graveyard, to my field, but only that monster can attack this turn. Not like it matters, due to **Soul Exchange** , but oh well. Say hello to the new and improved **Gem-Knight Zirconia! Gem-Knight Zirconia!** " _ **(EARTH, Rock, Level 8, 2900 ATK, 2500 DEF)**_

Zirconia appeared, but this time opposing Yujin, he was enveloped in a dark aura, its cape was tattered, red stains were on its armor and it now felt like a lifeless puppet attached to Bram's strings.

"My little toy, for me to mess with. It'll obey all my commands, and next turn, it'll finish you." Lucy moved her fingers around like a puppeteer, causing Zirconia to follow the movements.

"I'll end my turn. Your turn."

 **Turn 4: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Zirconia (2900 ATK), Vampire Bram (2500 ATK), Vampire Sorcerer (1500 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: Vampire Kingdom (Field Spell.)**

Yujin went silent for a second and glanced at Lucy's field. He was clearly upset at her for stealing his monster.

"DRAW!" He shouted as he looked at the card he drew.

"I summon **Gem-Armadillo** , I search for Obsidian!" ( _ **EARTH, Rock, Level 4, ATK: 1700, DEF: 500).**_

"I fuse my monsters now! Activate **Gem-Knight Fusion**! Gem Tinged with fire! Sharp-Jet Blackness! In a whirlpool of light combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! He who destroys! **Gem-Knight Ruby**! _**(EARTH, Pyro, Level 6, ATK: 2500, DEF: 1300.)**_

Garnet, a tall Gem-Knight in slim red-orange armor fused with Obsidian and then a gem with a shining red armor, with hints of gold appeared, it had a big blue cape and held a scythe-like staff in his hands.

"A new monster huh, well it's ATK won't kill Bram OR Zirconia."

"Obsidian summons Garnet." _**(EARTH, Pyro, Level 4, 1900 ATK, 0 DEF.)**_

The red-orange warrior appeared, its hand seemed to burn with excitement.

"I'll use Ruby's effect, by tributing one Gem- Monster, he gains that much attack, I tribute armadillo." Ruby slammed his weapon into Armadillo as he absorbed his power.

"Killing your own teammates for power. Seems a bit savage, don't you think." Lucy seemed to enjoy messing around with Yujin.

 **Gem-Knight Ruby (ATK: 2500+1700=4200)**

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Ruby attack Bram!" Ruby charged with full speed at Bram as he tried to counter it with his shield.

"Kingdom's effect, my lovely Bram gains 500 ATK during Damage Calculation."

 **Crimson Knight Vampire Bram (ATK: 2500+500=3000)**

Ruby kept slamming into Bram and finally broke through his shield, cutting the vampire in half.

 **Lucy LP:8000 - 1200= 6800 LP**

"Garnet, attack Sorcerer! FLAMING….IRON….FIST!"

Garnet charged his fist up with energy until it was on fire as he jumped and punched the enemy vampire in the face, burning it alive.

"Sorcerer's effect, I add Duke to my hand."

"I'll set 1 card and end my turn, Ruby's attack returns to normal."

 **Gem-Knight Ruby: (4200 ATK-1700=2500 ATK)**

 **Turn 5: Lucy**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Ruby (2500 ATK), Gem-Knight Garnet (1900 ATK.)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down.**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 6800**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Zirconia (2900 ATK),**

 **Spells/Traps: Vampire Kingdom (Field Spell.)**

"You've got guts, but you don't think a vampire dies that easily, do you? When Bram dies, he'll return the next Standby Phase, however, in Defense Mode." _**(DARK, Zombie, Rank 5, 2500 ATK, 0 DEF)**_

Bram appeared on the field, still cut in two pieces. The two cut halves of Bram connected back together as tentacle-like appendages dragged the cut body of the vampire back together and he seemingly healed his wounds and fixed his armor and shield, then crouched down on his knee and raised his newly repaired shield.

"Too bad, such wasted time. Now, I banish the Sorcerer from my graveyard to summon **Vampire Duke** _without_ tributing for it **.** " _**(DARK, Zombie, level 5, 2000 ATK, 0 DEF)**_

"When Normal Summoned, he can summon another Vampire from my Graveyard, in defense mode, of course. I'll summon another one." _**(DARK, Zombie, level 5, 2000 ATK, 0 DEF)**_

"When a level 5 or higher Zombie is summoned, I can pay 2000 Life Points to summon **Vampire Grace!** Almighty queen of the undead, bathe in the blood of my enemy!" A creepy looking queen appeared, dressed in a dark-colored dress with spider-leg motif on it. She had a staff in one hand and a glass, presumably filled with blood in the other.

"Duke's effect, send 1 monster to your graveyard from your deck, and then I'll use the effect of my Kingdom to destroy your backrow."

Yujin send another Gem-turtle to grave, but smirked.

"I'll chain! **Mystical Space Typhoon**! I'll destroy your kingdom!" a ravaging Typhoon appeared destroying the city around them as the castle crumbled and the mountain collapsed, and even the blood red moon disappeared.

"Screw you!" Lucy said, with a clear hint of anger in her voice.

"I'll overlay my 2 level 5 dukes to construct the Overlay Network! Descend from heaven, fallen angel who will end all life! **Adreus, Keeper of Armageddon."** _ **(DARK, Fiend, Rank 5, 2600 ATK, 1700 DEF.)**_

An angel descended from the sky, but it was a dark being, black feathered wings, and a crimson red dagger in its hand, long black hair, a skeletal build and claw like hands. And similar red eyes to those of Bram.

"Now, by detaching 1 Material, I can destroy 1 face-up card of yours, goodbye Ruby! And with grace's effect you'll have to send another monster to your graveyard."

Adreus pointed his dagger at Ruby as he drained his soul from the body causing the armor to fall down and disappear. Lazuli had been watching the whole time still and was somewhat worried, Yujin smiled at her to show he's okay as he send his last turtle to the graveyard.

 **Enter Battle Phase**.

"Adreus, attack! End of the World!" In one flash Adreus cut Garnet in half destroying it.

"Now Grace, attack!" Multiple bats appeared around Grace as she commanded them to attack Yujin.

 **Yujin LP:8000-700-2000=5300 LP**

"Set 1, and end my turn."

 **Turn 6: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 5300**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Adreus (2600 ATK), Grace (2000 ATK), Bram (0 DEF)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

Yujin was silent and drew his card.

"Cat got your tongue?" Lucy taunted Yujin.

"A duel says more than words. I'll use the spell card: **Raigeki!** All your monsters are destroyed!"

A thunderstorm appeared striking all of Lucy's monsters killing them.

" Why do you keep destroying my THINGS?" Lucy was getting clearly annoyed.

"Why do YOU keep destroying MY things woman!" Yujin snapped back.

"I'll end my turn."

 **Turn 7: Lucy**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 5300**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

Lucy looked at her face-down card and smiled.

"Draw, I'll normal summon Pyramid Turtle." _**(EARTH, Zombie, Level 4, 1200 ATK, 1400 DEF.)**_ A giant turtle appeared holding an entire pyramid on its back.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Attack!"

 **Yujin LP: 5300-1200=4100 LP.**

"End my turn."

 **Turn 8: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 4100**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field: Pyramid Turtle (1200 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

"I'll use Gem-Knight Fusion! Gem Tinged with lightning! Brilliant Sardonyx of Fortune! In a whirlpool of light combine to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! He who chases the enemy! **Gem-Knight Citrine!** _ **(EARTH, Pyro, Level 7, 2200 ATK, 1950 DEF.)**_ A warrior similar to Ruby appeared, only the hands were on fire, the armor was a more orange color, and it seemed to made of wood and it had a sword made out of molten magma in his hand.

"Fusion's effect to return it back to my hand, banish Topaz."

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Attack! Effect, you can't activate any cards or effects until the end of the damage step! So Turtle's effect won't trigger, nor that face-down!"

 **Lucy LP: 4800-1000=3800 LP**

"I'll end my turn."

 **Turn 8: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 4100**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Lucy**

 **Life Points: 3800**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

"Draw! Damnit, this card's useless!, I'll set 1 monster and card and I'll end my turn." Lucy said.

"I stop." Yujin shut off his duel disk and walked away.

"You can't do that!" Lucy shouted at him.

"Yes I can, you have no field, and you have no backrow to counter me, the only way you'd win is by drawing a Book of Life, and-" Yujin revealed the card he would draw, **Bottomless Trap Hole.**

"See? You lost."

"You can't leave me here! I'm here to duel!"

"I wasn't here for my own pleasure, remembered what I said? A duel speaks more than words? I see the way you duel, no passion. Just… hatred, you don't show any love for it. You were a waste of my time." Yujin walked away, leaving Lucy and Lazuli in shock of what he said.

"You'll regret saying that!" Lucy said.

"You were so much more fun when you didn't act like a 5 year old. Oh well, goodbye miss Stalker."

Yujin walked outside of the door and went back to his dorms.

"Hey, where were you man? You got homework, remember?" Zephyr said, playing video games.

"Nothing, so why aren't you doing your homework?"

"Already did it."

"Sure, if you say so." Yujin grabbed one of his text books and started working on his homework.

"She was strong, if she actually put some heart in it, I wonder how much power she would have… And why me? I mean, I wasn't the only person to OTK… Something.. feels off." Yujin was mumbling.

"Let's just celebrate we won, okay?" Lazuli said, trying to comfort her friend.

"You okay there, buddy?" Zephyr said.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just tired." Yujin sighed.

"Something… feels so off."


	5. Chapter 5: I, Synchro

Three weeks have passed since the duel against Lucy, Yujin has been a bit on edge because of it. Lucy had been bothering him for a rematch, but each time he has refused. She just creeps him out. He wasn't sure why though, she just had this weird aura around her. He decided it was for the best to just ignore her. And so went the past 3 weeks, Yujin refusing every time Lucy asked for a rematch.

Right now he was in class, Fusion Summon class to be exact, luckily it was the only class they didn't share.

"Uuugh. just half an hour to go." He said in boredom, as he was practically sleeping in class.

"Mister Eugene, could you wake up?" The teacher said as he slammed a book on his desktop. He had a slight Scottish accent, dark blond hair, and green eyes. He seemed to be in his mid-thirty's, and wore the regular teacher outfit.

Lazuli sighed as she tried to shake Yujin awake.  
"Uh, sorry what? I'm sorry professor Acheson. I guess I feel asleep again. And it's _Yujin_ by the way _._ "

"Yes you did, you should be happy I'm going easy on you now, but if you fall asleep just one time now. I'll send you out of class, understood?"

"Understood." Yujin replied.

"Now good, so as I said, there's a lot of viable ways to fusion summon even without using **Polymerization** , a few of these ways are…"

Yujin started semi-daydreaming as he looked outside, he noticed a small boat arriving at the dock, and what looks to be a student and a teacher step out.  
"Wonder what that is." He said to himself.  
"Oh well, guess I got to pay attention to class or I'll get kicked out."

A few minutes had passed as class finally ended. It was the last class for now, so Yujin decided to go grab a snack at the cafeteria.

"Hey, wait for me!" Zephyr said as he saw Yujin.

"Oh hey Zeph."

"So, what'cha doing?" Zephyr questioned.

"I was hungry and wanted to grab a snack."

"Oh cool, same here. So did you watch that show I told you about?"

"Eh, I did, but I got bored after episode 4." Yujin said.

"Nah man, you've got to wait till episode 12. That's where it's fun, plus the next 2 episode have a giant creep factor."

"Yeah right."

"No really, just wait. You'll end up crying because of this show." Zephyr said as he walked with Yujin to the cafeteria.

"It's a children's cartoon, no way it's going to be good."

"Says the dude who I caught watching _Pokémon_ yesterday."

"That's different!" Yujin exclaimed.

"Aha, how so?"

"It's an anime."

"Wow.. Just wow. You have a giant bias for your country's animation, just wow."

"Okay, fine I'll give it a chance." Yujin sighed as he finally entered the cafeteria.

"I like the show." Lazuli mumbled.

Yujin grabbed a sandwich and sat at a table with Zephyr.

"So, how's your Synchro Teacher?" Yujin tried to start a conversation, he wasn't quite good at those normally back home.

"Oh, he's cool, rather jolly."

"Mine is still as stern as ever."

"Shucks." Zephyr replied with his mouth full.

An awkward silence felt as the two continued to eat.

"So…" Zephyr said.

"So…" Yujin Replied.

"So…" Lazuli said, even though only Yujin can see or hear her.

"Well, got anything to -" Yujin got interrupted as he saw a familiar figure walk to him.  
"Ugh, Gabriel, what do you want?" Yujin said in disgust.

"Oh, nothing in particular, just wanted to say you might miss one of the biggest duels of this year."  
"I don't care if it involves you."

"Oh, it's not me, it's by the number 2 student. I hate to say it, but she's better than me now. She's fighting one of the overseas students, it's a little tradition. You know, like the thing on the boat." He said with a smirk.

"Right…" Yujin looked annoyed at him.

"Well, so each year around the end of the month we have the number 1 student travel to one of the other schools to challenge the number 1 there. I guess to assert dominance or some bullshit like that, but our number 1 declined so the overseas student is going to duel our number 2. Can you believe the ego of that guy?"

"Right, so I assume it's at the duel courts?" Yujin was trying to stay as quiet as possible, clearly annoyed at Gabriel.

"Yeah, it's going to start in 10 minutes. Wouldn't want to miss it if I were you." He waved goodbye and walked away

"Sheesh, what a snob." Yujin and Lazuli said in unison.

"Wait, how do you even know Gabriel?" Zephyr asked somewhat confused.

"Remember the guy who I frequently talk about, you know Lucian?"

"Yeah, the Slifer Red dude, right?"

"That's his bro."

"Oooh." Zephyr said in realization

"So, let's go. I want to see this duel."

"But I want to eat my stuff." Zephyr said trying his best puppy face

"No time, it takes almost 10 minutes just to walk there." Yujin put down his sandwich as he slapped Zephyr's food out of his hand as it fell to the floor.

"Nooo, mi torta!" Zephyr exclaimed.

"You can quote the cartoon later, let's go!" Yujin grabbed Zephyr as he dragged him.

Yujin, Lazuli and Zephyr finally arrived at the duel courts. On the left side was a young, male student, he was wearing a similar, but different version of the Obelisk Blue outfit, he had a crew cut, and looked like he could need a growth spurt. Next to him was his opponent, which Yujin had presumed to be the number two student, due to her outfit being a standard blue outfit, only she decided to wear jeans instead of the ridiculous miniskirts. She had light red shoulder-long hair, with a hint of brown, suggesting it was dyed. The style kind of reminded Yujin of Zephyr, only without the ahoge, and being longer as again, it was shoulder length hair. Furthermore she had round green eyes, reminiscence of Yujin's professor, only hers were lighter colored.

One of the teachers, a bald, somewhat chubby teacher walked on stage with a microphone.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Today we have a duel of the ages, in the left corner we have Robbie Kappel, a student from overseas send here to fight our number 2. The Legendary Speed Queen, Eva Flynn!"

"Speed Queen?" Yujin said in confusion.  
"You'll see why in a second, bro." Zephyr said.

"Okay, you two know the rules, and since Robbie is out guest he can go first, understood?"

"Yes." Eva nodded as she smiled.

"READY." The teacher said.

"SET." All the students shouted.

"DUEL!" Eva and Robbie then shouted as the crowd went wild.

 **Turn 1: Robbie**

 **Robbie**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Eva**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

"Okay then, I'll start by summoning **Tin Goldfish** _ **(WATER, Machine, Level 4, 800 ATK, 2000 DEF)**_ , and use his effect to summon my **Green Gadget** _ **(EARTH, Machine, Level 4, 1400 ATK, 600 DEF.)**_ , and his effect to add **Red Gadget.** Now I'll overlay my 2 level 4 monsters to construct the overlay network, I'll Xyz summon **Gear Gigant X!** _ **(EARTH, Machine, Rank 4, 2300 ATK, 1500 DEF)**_ , and then I use his effect to detach 1 card and add **Tin Goldfish!** Now I'll set 1 card and end my turn

 **Turn 2: Eva  
**

**Robbie**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Gear Gigant X (2300 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 1 Face-down**

 **Eva**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

"Okay, I see you'll use that so you pretty much can summon another Xyz the next turn for free as you can add 2 more monsters to your hand. Time to show you how we duel here." Eva said, her voice was high pitched, though not too much, but her tone was confident, a bit more masculine you could say, though it's still a recognizably female voice.

"Oh?" Robbie said. "Well show me then."

"I'll set 1 monster and 1 face-down spell or trap."

"REALLY THAT'S IT!" Lazuli shouted.

"Sheesh, my ears." Yujin said.

"Yeah, but she tries to hype you, then pretty much does NOTHING."

"Just shut up and watch." he replied, he tried to keep his voice low to not alert Zephyr. 

**Turn 3: Robbie**

 **Robbie**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Gear Gigant X (2300 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 1 Facedown**

 **Eva**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:  
Monster: 1 Facedown  
Spells/Traps: 1 Facedown**

"Draw, I'll use the effect of **Gear Gigant X** once more, add **Tin Goldfish.** Then I summon **Red Gadget (EARTH, Machine, Level 4, 1300 ATK, 1500 DEF.)** , and with his effect I add **Yellow Gadget,** And to his summon I'll chain the effect of **Kagetokage** , when I normal summon a monster I can summon him to my field **! (DARK, Reptile, Level 4, 1100 ATK, 1500 DEF) .** Now, I'll overlay these two! Xyz Summon! **King of the Feral Imps! (DARK, Reptile, Rank 4, 2300 ATK, 2000 DEF.)** , and with his effect, I can detach 1 to add a Reptile monster, so I'll add **Kagetokage.** "

"You keep adding monsters so you won't lose any hand size, therefore giving you options with the whole rank 4 toolbox. Interesting plays there sir." Eva said.

 **Enter Battle Phase.**

"I'll attack your face down, then I'll attack you directly!" As he said that the **King of the Feral Imps** jumped on top of the giant face down card and crushing it, revealing **Glow-up-Bulb.(EARTH, Plant, level 1, 100 ATK and DEF),** a tuner monster.

"A tuner, so that explains how you know her Zeph, you guys in the same class? Well, I never asked, but seeing we don't share any classes, you're a second year student, right?"

"Yeah, and trust me, she's worth her place."

As the two were talking **Gear Gigant X** launched his fist straight into Eva as she took it like it was nothing.

 **Eva's LP: 8000-2300=5700 LP.**

"Set a card, and I'll pass my turn." Robbie casually said.

"Good, then on your End Phase I'll use **Mystical Space Typhoon!** Destroy the card you set! A typhoon appeared destroying the face down **Torrential Tribute**."

"Nice." She said to herself.

 **Turn 4: Eva**

 **Robbie**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Gear Gigant X (2300 ATK), Feral Imp (2300 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 1 Facedown**

 **Eva**

 **Life Points: 5700**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field:  
Monster:  
Spells/Traps: **

"Draw! Oh look at that, another MST. I think I'll destroy your other face down! Another one appeared, this time destroying a **Dimensional Prison.**

"Double nice!"

"… Well there goes my defense." Robbie sighed.

"Now, I'll summon **Junk Synchron! (DARK, Warrior, level 3, 1300 ATK, 500 DEF)** , and with his effect I can summon **Glow-up-bulb!** "

"So? You can't Synchro with 2 tuners!"

"That's where **Doppelwarrior (DARK, Warrior, Level 2, 800 ATK and DEF)** comes into action, when a monster is summoned from my grave, he's summoned from my hand! Now, I'll tune my level 3 **Junk Synchron** level 2 **Doppelwarrior**. Limiter Removal, Level Five! Regulator Open! Thruster Warm up, OK! Up Link All Clear! Go! Synchro Summon! Come on! **Tech Genus Hyper Librarian**!" **(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 5, 2400 ATK, 1800 DEF.)** "

"Hyper Librarian, so you're going to mass Synchro summon to get a lot of draws of, huh." Robbie calculated what the best was to do, he didn't have any backrow, so there wasn't much left for him.

"Now, with **Doppelwarrior** I get 2 tokens that are half his level and stats in attack mode! **(DARK, Warrior, Level 1, 400 ATK and DEF)** , and I'll tune 1 of these with Bulb to summon, **Formula Synchron! (Light, Machine, level 2, 200 ATK, 1500 DEF.),** and as you know, when he's summoned I can draw 1 card, and when a card is Synchro summoned I can draw of Librarian's effect, so I draw 2 cards! And then I use Bulbs effect, by sending the top card to my grave, he's back! Or she? I don't really know."

Eva revealed the top card, **Effect Veiler** , as she send that to her grave and summoned bulb back to the field.

"Now, even if that effect is once per duel, I'll use it to summon another **Formula Synchron** AND draw 2 more cards!"

"So, looks like the speed queen is going full power huh." Zephyr remarked.

"Drawing so many cards and summoning 3 monsters in one turn without losing too much hand, fantastic…" Yujin was in awe.

"Not done yet, discard **Quillbolt Hedgehog (EARTH, Machine, Level 2, 800 ATK and DEF.)** to summon my favorite Synchron, **Quickdraw Synchron! (WIND, Machine, level 5, 700 ATK, 1400 DEF.),** now. I'll use the spell **One for One!** By discarding a monster, for this I use **Junk Synchron** I can summon a level 1 from my deck, say hello to **Level Eater!"**

"Amazing, 5 monsters on the field, and still able to tune for new monsters… Even my OTK's can't come close…"

"I'll tune **Level Eater** and **Quickdraw!** When wishes of steel gather round the messenger of the gale, that wish will become an invincible shield! Become the path its light shines upon! Synchro Summon! Come out, **Junk Gardna**! **(Earth, Warrior, Level 6, 1400 ATK, 2600 DEF.)**." She summoned it in defense mode and drew 1 card.

"And with level eater I can eat the level of 1 monster to resurrect it! Librarian's a level 4 now, but I'll have him back!" **Hyper Librarian: Level 5-1=4.**

"Now, I'll tune **Level Eater, Gardna AND my Formula Synchron!"**

"WAIT, Formula's a tuner too!?" Yujin said in shock.

"Great dragon sealed away, break the chains that hold you down and unleash the strength that will freeze the Earth, Heaven and Hell! SYNCHRO SUMMON! **Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier!** **(WATER, Dragon, Level 9, 2700 ATK, 2000 DEF.)**

"T-Trishula." Robbie said in clear shock.

Trishula, a giant dragon with 3 heads, a cold frozen body and angelic wings, but this card was from angelic, it's seen as one of destruction, a monster so strong it was banned for ages, until now in the west. Yujin had seen people summoning Trishula before in the OCG, and was quite impressed, but here, with the real life projection before him, he shivered. The whole arena felt like it was suddenly cold. The dragon stared down at **Gear Gigant X** as it froze its body, simply from glaring it, it froze an entire machine, and another card in Robbie's hand, and one of the traps in his grave, as a portal appeared sucked them away, to where… nobody knew.

"Trishula's effect, I remove a card on your field, hand and grave, and banish them."

Robbie was forced to banish a **Swift Scarecrow** , a card that could've saved him… but now, it looks like it was too late.

"I draw 1 more card, and discard **Unknown Synchron** for another **Quickdraw. Level Eater** returns by making **Quickdraw** level 4, but no worries. I'll tune them now! Summon **Junk Warrior! (DARK, Warrior, Level 5, 2300 ATK, 1300 DEF.)** , and I'll draw 1 more of course. Then I use **Level Eater** On Trishula. (Trishula, Level 9-1=8), and then Tune **Junk Warrior, Formula Synchron and Level Eater!** Synchro summon! **Scrap Dragon! (EARTH, Dragon, level 8, 2800 ATK, 2000 DEF.)** Then Level Eater once more on Trishula (Level 8-1=7) and I'll use Scrap Dragon too! I destroy Level Eater and then I can destroy your monster!"

Scrap Dragon fired two lasers, hitting the king and eater, like pesky bugs, and destroyed them.

"Level eater once again on Trish, to get him back!" (Level 7-1=6)

 **Enter Battle Phase!**

All of Eva's monsters relentlessly attacked Robbie, until he was at **2200 LP**

"Trishula, finish him off." Trishula started to roar as his icy breath made Robbie fall down to the ground.

 **WINNER: Eva**

"A-amazing, no wonder she's number 2." Yujin shivered thinking he had to grow to that kind of level.

Robbie stood up and walked over to Eva.

"I hate to say it, but you won fair and square. Your teacher must be proud."

"Thanks, you weren't half bad either."

The two shook hands as the crowd went wild again after a long silence.

"AMAZING!"

"EVA, MARRY ME!"

"ALL HAIL THE SPEED QUEEN!"

"I GOT SHIVERS FROM THIS DUEL!"

Yujin covered his ears as he slowly walked away.

"Zeph, I need some time for myself man, need to rethink some strategies and stuff to improve… I have a far way to go."

"Kay, buddy." Zephyr stayed to talk with Eva a bit to compliment her.

"Told you she's good." Gabriel said as he walked past Yujin.

"Guess you were right, this was something I wouldn't want to miss." Yujin kept walking.

"If you want to be as strong as her, you better start training, maybe use my little bro as a punching bag. He could toughen a bit up, not like you'll ever be as strong as me however."

"We'll see…" Yujin left.

"Guess it's time to train, huh." Lazuli said as she looked around, a bit doubtful.

"This is never going to end well…" she sighed as she followed Yujin.


	6. Chapter 6: Close to the Edge

(Guess who's back? Eh.. Pretty sure whatever fans I had have left me.)

" **Gem-Knight Ruby** attacks you directly!" Ruby jumped forward as he went in for the kill.  
"I give up." Lucian placed his hand on his deck.  
 **WINNER: Yujin.  
**

"Sheesh, couldn't you at the least let me finish attacking you? Were you that scared of Ruby's attack, his… whatever you call it, isn't that scary of a weapon. What do you actually call that weapon anyways?"

"Does it matter? I completely bricked anyway, I didn't open up with any tuners, and I didn't draw one for 2 turns, and when I did Synchro, you used **Bottomless Trap Hole** to destroy it." Lucian rolled his eyes, looking a bit pissed off.

"Sheesh dude, chillax. We only had like… five duels today. Sure I won all of them, but you were… well you brought me to 2000 lifepoints on 2 of them."

"And you still won. I haven't won a single duel on this island, even against other Slifers." Lucian sighed, clearly frustrated now.

"You lost a game, it's not like it's an official match or anything. No need to the insecure."

"Nevermind, let's just have our sixth duel."

"Nah, let's take a 10 minute break. You need some time to cool down."

"Fine."

Yujin decided to walk a bit outside of the red dorm, he did seem get some stares from Slifer students however.

"Sheesh, can they stop staring, feels so weird." He muttered.

"Well, for them a person of higher class is just walking around here with no care, it makes them feel insecure, kind of like how you feel." Lazuli said.

"Me, insecure? Yeah right, I'm confidence incarnate." Yujin bragged.

"Suuuuuure, that's why after seeing a person of far higher skill win you decide to leave to go on a mini training arc because of the shounen anime logic your brain runs on, totally not because you're insecure of your skills."

"Wow, since when are you so sassy?" Yujin was almost speechless.

"Since always. By the way you know, you should treat Lucian better, he's like one of your two only friends here."

"Eh, I wouldn't call Zephyr a friend, Lucian a bit, maybe."

"Right, you wouldn't call the only persons you hang out with on a regular basis a friend."

"Okay you can stop being sassy now, I'll give you some pudding at the cafeteria if you do."

"I'll stop… for now, but only if it's chocolate pudding."

"Sure."

And so Lazuli and Yujin decided to talk about different topics with each other, ranging from theorizing how to improve their deck to simply the scenery of the island. This did end up making more Slifer Red students to stare at Yujin, but now not of intimidation, but of confusion as to why an Obelisk Blue is walking around their dorms talking to himself.

"Hey Lucian, I'm back!" Yujin walked back over to Lucian who hadn't moved from where he stood at all.

"Sheesh, I was waiting. Was starting to think you fell into the ocean and got taken away by octopuses."

"Pretty sure it's octopi, Lucian."

"Actually, it's octopodes." a familiar voice said, sending chills up Yujin's spine.

"Sorry, Lucian, could you move aside please."

"Uh, okay." Lucian moved a bit to the right.

Yujin grabbed a pebble and threw it at the person, but ended up missing.

"Wow, if it wasn't for your horrible aim I'd be angered." the familiar voice said once again.

"Ugh, Lucy is that you? Why are you here you yandere stalker?"

"Yandere? Yeah right, I was just here to take some pictures of the island and send them to my parents." Lucy gestured to the camera around her neck.

"… Oh. Well, uh I guess I'm sorry for throwing that rock." Yujin clasped his hands together and asked for an apology.

"Apology accepted, you know just because I want a rematch doesn't mean I don't have other things to do."

"You're still a stalker." Yujin said to himself, not wanting Lucy to get angered even more. He'd rather stay out of her bad side.

"So… who is she?" Lucian was confused.

"Long story short? Some girl I dueled because she was stalking me. I quit before we finished and now she's mad."

"Sheesh, you're rude." Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, so, uh I might not know you, Lucy, but uh… This is going to be me versus Yujin." Lucian said, mumbling.

"Well, you're obviously not enjoying losing, and I want revenge, so just take another break. I'll duel Yujin for you." Lucy said, obviously faking kindness.

"Yeah… No, Lucian, nevermind, let's call it a day. I'd rather jump off a bridge then hang out with that loony. Playing her is no fun, she takes this far too serious for me." Yujin took the opportunity to put his disk back in his pocket and left.

"So… How did you meet Yujin?" Lucian asked.

"Oh, that's a long weird story, you really want to know?" Lucy said.

"Eh, not really to be honest. I'm Lucian as you know, and you're… Lucy right? Heh, Lucian, Lucy. Kind of funny." Lucian said laughing somewhat.

"Yeah, well, you asked for it." Lucian and Lucy ended up chitchatting for a while.

"Well, you know, you're a pretty swell dude for a Slifer, but I got to go, don't want others to get the wrong idea. " Lucy gave Lucian a pat on the back and left.

"Yeah… Bye." Lucian sighed and left back to his room.

The next day Lucian and Yujin entered class, it was the same class they always start with on Monday and Tuesday, Basic Duel Tactics.  
"Okay class, take a seat please. Today we'll talk about card advantage. Grab your notebooks, this will be on the test." Mister Washington instructed to his students.

"Test? What test?" a student on the front row asked.

"The first test of the year, haven't you read the folder? Or the website? On this prestige academy to test our student's skills and rate them accordingly we'll have one test."

"Oh phew."

"Every month." Mister Washington continued.

"Wait what?" a few other students said in clear confusion.

"Yes, with these tests we can see if you, our students are still doing as we expected, and if not we can downgrade you or upgrade you to different classes. Each rank of you will be rated harder depending on high you are. So you Obelisk Blues will be expected to do far better if you want to stay at your current luxurious life. " He continued.

"I do not want to become a Slifer." a Ra Yellow student said.

"Yeah, have you seen their dorms? I'm a hundred percent sure it's infested with cockroaches." another Ra student said.

"Oh and their girl's dorms are practically ancient ruins, like hell I'm going there. " a female Obelisk Blue student said.

"Yeah, sure just pick on us." Lucian muttered to himself.

"Now calm down students, if you want to stay where you are or even get promoted there is only one way to do so. Study, study hard."

"Yes sir!" most of the students said in unison.

And so class went on, nothing in particular had happened, but there was some gossiping about the Slifer Reds. Nothing about the gossips was good, or even right for that matter as they went from how Red students get abused by their teachers to the ridiculous idea the dorm's haunted by the spirit of created such as Jinzo.

Yujin had written a few notes here and there, mostly abbreviating it to the core information he felt necessary, but he had Lazuli help him. Having a Duel Spirit does come in handy for that. As he left the class he saw Lucian backed against the wall talking to some older Obelisk Blue students, Yujin recognized one of them after looking at them for a second. He was the same jerk he met on the boat, one of Gabriel's friends.

"Come on Lucian, we just want you to buy a soda and a booster box, we forgot our wallet at our dorm. We'll pay you back, sometime." One of the Obelisk Blues said, he had a somewhat baritone voice, with not even a hint of an accent.

"Yeah right, Gabriel told me already how bad you are with your money Drayce. Now leave me alone please, I need to study for the test. It's already this Saturday, and I need the time to study."

"Like that will matter man, you'll be a Slifer probably for the rest of your life, bet you won't even graduate." The guy, apparently called Drake said. He was rather tall, even compared to Gabriel and Lucian, Yujin guessed he must've been like 2 meters. (In actuality he was 1.95 meter, so Yujin's estimation was fairly close.), and had no real defining features except for his blonde dreadlocks, which even Yujin thought looked fairly stupid.

"Hey guys, why don't you just go and leave him alone." Yujin said interrupting them.

"Oh, it's him." One of the other students said.

"Yeah, it's me. Now get the hell out of here before I kick your asses."

"Sheesh fine, we'll go." Drayce said walking away.

"Do they always bother you?" Yujin asked, somewhat concerned for Lucian.

"No, this was a first." Lucian avoided eye contact.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Because in the 3 weeks I got to know you, you always look to the ground if something's bothering you."

"Of course I'm bothered, those jerks just came in."

"You do make a point."

"I really can't believe them, hurdur we're friends with your older brother and Obelisk Blue students, so go and use your lunch money to buy us some booster packs. Why would they even want a booster pack of _Stardust Strike_ so much? Drayce doesn't even use a Synchro deck."

"Sheesh, why do they look down upon you so much? I mean you're still in it. One of the finest duel academies in the world, I mean on a regular one being a Red here is the same as being a Blue there!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Lucian said even more frustrated.

"No?"

"They're afraid."

"What?"

"Afraid of failing, here in the school the head chancellor has only one thing he wants, winners. I've heard the stories of my brother, he drives students insane about them climbing to the top or them failing. He pushes them so hard they're afraid to fall once they've climbed up. They act like they're better because they want to remind themselves among the madness of the stress delivered here something they're not… Me."

"… Wow, Lucian, you should major in philosophy."

"Yujin, I'm in your Duel Philosophy class."

"Wait, really? Huh, never noticed you. Anyway, look I know it's frustrating, but you can train. You can learn, I mean with a few good scores you can easily climb to Ra Yellow. I understand."

"No you don't, _you_ got Obelisk Blue quite easily, you barely pay attention in class and still seem to do well! The other students would love to hang out with you, here not even the other Red students want to talk to each other due to how depressed they feel. It's already been three weeks and I've heard some people crying about how they want to go home. My own roommate also by the way, avoids me as much as he can, unlike yours which seems to cling on to you whenever he can." Lucian kept shouting at Yujin, more frustrated than ever.

"Well-" Yujin almost wanted to say it was due to Lazuli's help with his notes and homework he was able to keep up, but he didn't want to reveal his secret.

"Well what?"

"Look Lucian, I might not understand how you feel now, but whatever. I was trying to be nice."

Lazuli was watching the two talk, she didn't like where this was going.

"Yujin, maybe you should calm down." She said, hoping he'd not go too far.

"I don't need your sympathy, I'll be fine on my own."

"I was just trying to be a friend to you, no need to take it personal you ass!" Yujin was starting to shout.

"If I recall, we aren't friends. You said it yourself. So just leave me alone now." Lucian left to go to his next class.

"Fine!" Yujin shouted at Lucian leaving for his next class as well.

"Oh boy, this isn't good at all…" Lazuli muttered to herself, she felt a bit saddened.

"You think you know a guy and he does something like this. See Lazuli? This is why I don't need any friends." Yujin said to her walking away with his hands in his pockets.

"Lazuli you coming? I've still got class you know, and as much as I'd stay out of his way, we both have the same class now."

Lazuli wasn't paying much attention to Yujin now.

"So you coming or what?" Yujin said to her.

"Huh? Sure." Lazuli floated after Yujin, hoping he'll cool down soon.

"At the least you won't betray me Lazuli, at the least you won't" Yujin muttered walking to class.


	7. Chapter 7: And You And I

It had been a few hours since the argument between Yujin and Lucian, currently Yujin was at his math class which unfortunately for most of the students was double period. The teacher, miss Lorelei Wagner a woman who seemed to be nearing her 30's pushed up her glasses and gave the class some math problems for the class to solve as she was readjusting her chevron bun using a few seashell-shaped bobby pins she seemed to carry around. The math questions had mostly been formatted in such a way so they'd be related to dueling, but some were simply about such things as fractions. Lazuli wasn't that great at math so she wasn't much of a help for Yujin, who luckily was decent enough at math, though he was happy that math wasn't part of the tests given out this month. Miss Wagner had said that she'd only give a math test once a three months compared to the duel related subjects.

"Okay class, were there any problems you guys ran in? Any questions you perhaps didn't understand?" Miss Wagner said looking at a few slow students who hadn't finished.  
A few students has raised their hand, including Lucian.

"Hmm, let's pick one. Yes, Lucian anything you found hard?"

"No, but I was confused about question 4. The one about **Megamorph** , as you stated whether it halves or doubles the ATK of the equipped monster is dependent on the player's LP being higher or lower than the opponent, yet you didn't state the LP of either player."

"I didn't? Well you guys you can skip that question then, I'll just give a new one instead."

And so class went on, miss Wagner gave out questions, talked about some formula's and such and expected the students to write down their notes. Lazuli wasn't quite helping, both due to her lackluster math skills and her still being worried about Yujin's fight with Lucian. But as she was thinking whether or not she should talk about this to Yujin, miss Wagner clapped her hands together.

"Okay class, I think that's it for today, don't forget to finish your homework, which I'll expect next Friday. Furthermore if you have any other questions, problems you ran into about math or simply need a teacher to talk to you can come talk to me. I'd be happy to help my students."

Yujin stood up, but took a second to glance at Lucian who walked down to talk to miss Wagner. He scoffed and walked to the cafeteria, deciding he could go grab some food. As he walked past the library he saw a few older Ra Yellow students picking on a younger Slifer Red student. Yujin groaned remembering a few hours ago the same thing happened to Lucian, he sighed and grabbed one of the older students by the shoulder.

"How about you guys pick on somebody else okay?" Yujin said with a forced smile on his face, which didn't mask how pissed he was as he was he was grabbing the student rather hard.

"Okay, okay just let me go you're hurting my shoulders." The other students apologized, probably not meaning it and left.

Yujin walked past the Red student completely ignoring him saying: "Thank you." to him. Yujin managed to enter the cafeteria, still having enough time left to eat and go to his next class. As he grabbed a BLT sandwich he decided to grab a seat next to the window, and looked at the crystal blue sky outside as he took a few bites of his sandwich.

"Hey Yujin!" Zephyr said sitting next to him.

"Oh boy. I mean hey Zephyr."

"Ay, what's with the long face?"

"Oh nothing, just got into a bit of an argument with Lucian."

"Really, that guy? How did you anger him off?"

"Sheesh, I did nothing. He was just stressed over nothing."

"Eh, I guess stress makes people act crazy. Plus being a Red student does not do him any favors either."

"Yeah, I noticed today it seems that they're easy bully targets." Yujin took another bite of his sandwich.

"Wait, are you bullying someone?" Zephyr was kind of confused

"What?! No, that's not how I meant it. I meant I noticed a student getting picked on by some others."

"Ooooh." Zephyr said, understanding what Yujin meant.

"I swear Zeph, you can be such an airhead at times. I mean you entered my class multiple times this month thinking it was your own."

"It's kind of hard to get my old schedule out of my system you know, I totally can't remember my new one. Luckily I write them down, I think I have Synchro class in half an hour." Zephyr was looking for a skimming through his phone's agenda to look up his classes.

Yujin yawned a bit, not really caring for Zephyr as he continued to eat.

"So, how was class?" Zephyr tried to continue to conversation.

"Meh, the teachers doing the same thing as always. Students doing the same as always, but it had less Lucy talking than usual."

"Right, well I should probably it's quite a walk from here to class, plus I wanted to drop some books I borrowed to the library, so see you later at the dorm." Zephyr stood up and waved goodbye as he left.

"Finally, some peace and silence." Yujin put his feet up and the table and finished eating his sandwich.

"We need to talk Yujin." Lazuli said, sounding rather serious.

Yujin groaned. "Oh come on, I just want to relax a bit."

"Well, I'm sorry but we really have to."

"Okay Lazuli, if you find it that important to talk about the whole Lucian ordeal." Yujin tried to keep his volume low enough that none of the other students would hear.

"Well at the least you know what I'm going to talk about. We both know what you did was wrong. Now I'm not saying what he did was any better, but as a friend of him you should show him support. Not just walk away from the problem."

"I'm sorry, but if I remember he said we weren't friends. So if he isn't my friend, why should I help him?"

"Well, for one: Just being a good person. And two: He only said you guys weren't friend because you said it to yourself you guys aren't friends. "

"Well excuse me for saying the truth."

"Oh please, you know you guys are buds. You just don't want to tell yourself you were so you don't have to feel bad when something like this happens. This is all just a bad defense mechanism you've installed on yourself."

"Aha, and what makes you a certified psychologist to say that about me?"

"I am not a certified psychologist, I'm something far better Yujin. I'm your friend, and if you go on the path you're walking now I'll be the only friend you've ever had in your life. And nobody but you can see me!"

"I'm just not a social person okay? Look, I'm sorry I seemed to have hurt him, but it was his fault for overreacting. If he couldn't deal with this, then well I don't think we should be friends. So stop picking his side Lazuli, aren't you supposed to be my friend?"

"Yes, and as a friend I'm supposed to help you when you make a mistake. And what you just did might be the biggest mistake you've ever made."

"No, I think the biggest mistake I made was not picking up any copies of **Solemn Strike**."

"Yujin, please. Try to be serious for once. Remember how Lucian said the other students here are stressed but act like they aren't? Don't you think you might be doing the same thing."

"Look Lazuli, I'm fine. If you think that Lucian's such a great guy that I should be besties with him, then just give him the time to cool down. Because I ain't talking to him till he gets his head out of his ass."

"I'm done, I'm going back into my deck and I'm not going to leave until you learn to be a responsible person and apologize to Lucian."

"Bu-"

"Not buts, goodbye!" Lazuli interrupted as her spirit entered Yujin's deck.

"Oh boy, I really pissed her off." Yujin put his feet off the table and sighed, realizing he only had a few minutes till his Japanese class. He decided to grab his stuff and leave.

Upon arriving in his class he sighed as he realized that Lucy was in his Japanese class too, which he had completely forgotten about. He however didn't pay much attention to her during class, nor any attention to the teacher really, he simply scribbled some stuff down on his notebook. Class went by rather fast and the teacher didn't seem to notice him slacking off, nor any of the students next to him that he was just writing random text in Japanese.

"I swear, I'm going to get cramps in my hand if I have to keep writing like this." Yujin complained as he felt someone walked behind him.

"So, is that how you spend your time in class? Doodling?" An all too familiar voice said as Yujin shuddered knowing it was Lucy.

"What now Lucy, I'm not going to have a rematch with you. I'm far too busy this week."

"Busy with what? Slacking off?" Lucy was trying to provoke Yujin it seemed.

"No, have you forgotten about the test? That sounds rather unprofessional of you to forget such a thing. We have to focus on our academic studies you know." Yujin said, in a rather bad attempt to do an impression of her.

"Oh ha-ha. And I didn't want to do a rematch this week, I was wondering if we could do it on a Monday actually. Also, I heard about the fight you had with Lucian"

"No. Also, _how_? Yujin put some extra emphasis on the how.

"Well, less of a I heard it and more of a I saw it happening."

"Oh for the love of god." Yujin facepalmed at himself realizing that she probably wasn't the only student who saw that.

"It seems you're in quite a predicament. How sad it must be for you, I thought he was quite a fitting companion for you."

"He is the one who should feel sad, he's the one acting like a jackass."

"If you say so Yujin, but is it he who deserves all the blame or do you have some blood on your hands too?" Lucy had a rather crooked smile as she left leaving Yujin even more frustrated.

"Ugh, what does she know anyway." Yujin sighed as he realized he still had one more class to go: Duel Philosophy, which unfortunately for him he shares with Lucian.

Yujin entered the classroom and sat down, trying to get as least attention as possible. Yujin noticed Lucian entered the class a few second after he took a seat and took one at the opposite reaction with the other Slifer Red students. The teacher himself didn't show up until a solid 15 minutes had passed, apparently he got tied up in a conversation with a student who had some problems and wanted to address some bullies about what they did. He told the students to open up their textbook and started off by telling some quotes from famous philosophers such as Plato and making use of them in modern society, and how they'd work in an environment such as dueling. It was actually rather entertaining as these quotes did start to make Yujin think, but no quote stood out to him more than:

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy." His teacher said to the class, which was apparently a quote from Aristotle.

"See, this quote here is quite important. For we all know how easy it is to get angered when playing this game, or afterwards, or even when just pulling open a pack. And often or not, we're angry at the other duelist. Yet I have to ask you, were you angry for the right reasons?" The teacher, a tall skinny man in his mid 40's questioned his class. Mister Frederick Locke, as the teacher was called sat on top of his desk and stared at the class and waited for someone to answer.

Yujin was still pondering about the quote, and was in a bit of a dream-like daze. He wasn't quite sure to respond, the fact the quote got mentioned was just a coincidence for him, so why should he give it much thought?

"Well seeing from the awkward silence I created it seems you guys rather want to hide the truth then to admit your mistakes, but this is all of the experience as growing. Not just as a duelist, but as a human being. And that's why I love giving this class, for I can see the growth it brings to others as they take in these words and explore not only their own psyche, but also of those around them."

Mister Locke looked at his watch and realized he had talked for 45 minutes already.

"Oh it seems time is up, class is dismissed, however Lucian I want to talk with you after class."

Yujin glanced at Lucian as he stood up from his seat and walked over to the teacher. The two seemed to talk about something, but Yujin was too far away them and whatever word he could pick up didn't give him any context. Yujin didn't want to attract any attention to himself so he grabbed his stuff and decided to go and drop by the library, he could use the free time left to study and finish his homework.

The library was rather crowded at this time, seeing that classes were over so most people decided to take their free time on studying or reading whatever book they could find, ranging from graphic novels to sappy romance stories. Yujin recognized a few people in the library: He could see Gabriel sitting with some other students as they were studying, Zephyr was talking with a female Obelisk Blue student about something and saw Lucy dropping off some books she had read. Yujin decided to avoid all three of them, rather not wanting to strike a conversation with them, especially not Gabriel seeing he was Lucian's older brother. It took him a while, but he managed to find an unoccupied table and took a seat. He decided to start off with his math homework first, thinking to himself that whether or not Lazuli's around it wouldn't help him at all with this particular subject anyway. It wasn't that much really, so it only took him about 15 minutes or so. He then briefly worked on his other homework assignments, though it took him a while longer then he first expected, when he looked at his phone he realized he had spend over an hour on it. He didn't have much interest to really continue now so he stood up and packed his belongings.

As he tried to find his way out of the library he ended up noticing a book on the ground, the book itself wasn't about anything in particular, though the cover seemed to depict a crescent moon. What interested him was what he found inside of the book, a **Mokey Mokey** card. The card itself was inside of a black card sleeve which looked to be a bit bigger than the actual card itself. As Yujin grabbed the card he noticed a small folded piece of paper falling out of the sleeve, he then grabbed the piece and unfolded it. He scanned the paper, but realized it was written in an entirely different language. He didn't understand any of the words, and none of the letters seemed to be from the English or Japanese alphabet. He was rather curious, so he decided he could just look it up online and realized the library did have some computers he could perhaps use if nobody else was occupying them.

He seemed to be in luck once more as there were quite a number of pc's left for him to use, hell there might be enough pc's here for 30 or so people. Yujin opened up Wikipedia and looked up some random alphabets. At first he didn't think he'd be able to find what it said, but with some luck he found out it was Greek. Well, he should've seen that coming seeing how the day went. It took him a while figuring how he'd copy the message on Google Translate, but after he did that he got a rough translation:

" Space duel came exactly 22. We want to discuss with you . We come alone, there are guards often , so that it can slip unnoticed through security ."

"Well… It's Google Translate, what did I expect?" He said to himself.

Deciding he spend enough time in the library and the fact the piece of paper he found meant nothing he understandable he decided it'd be for the best to just go. Yujin put the piece of paper back inside of the sleeve and put the card inside of his deck box, luckily for him his sleeves were of a different color so he could differentiate the **Mokey Mokey** from his regular set of cards. He tapped his deck a bit to see if Lazuli might react, normally if she's angry at him (which doesn't happen that often.) she does return back to her deck to cool down, but by now she would normally be back and say she's sorry for overreacting. Doesn't seem she's going to be apologizing soon, or maybe he should be the one to say he's sorry now?

"Oh well, I ain't gonna say I'm sorry." Yujin saw it was around 17:45 and decided he might as well go back to dorm cafeteria, dinner was supposed to start at 18:00 and he'd rather be early then late. It took him a bit longer then he expected to arrive, but he was still rather early. There weren't as many people there as he expected, though most students don't show up until at the least a half hour later. Yujin didn't see any students he recognized, not even Zephyr which surprised him since he's normally the first guy at the cafeteria.

"I guess he must still be at the library then." He thought to himself as he grabbed a plate.

They weren't serving anything in particular, but there seemed to be a lot of different meats served. Yujin grabbed a bit of everything he thought he'd like and took a seat to eat. As he was nearly finished with his meal he saw more students arrive, including Zephyr who seemed to wave goodbye to someone, though the person was too far away for Yujin to see. Once he was done with his meal he decided to stand up and leave.

"Oh hey Yujin, already done eating? Well, see you at the dorms!" Zephyr said as he saw Yujin walking past him. Yujin simply nodded and left.

He really didn't do much in his room either, he mostly spend his time playing Pokémon Alpha Sapphire and watching television. He looked at the clock on his wall and saw that it was 21:30. Surprisingly Zephyr still hadn't entered the room, what was that guy doing anyway? Yujin laid down on his bed and grabbed the sleeved card from his deck and glanced wondering what the message meant, but when he looked at the clock seeing it was now 21:35 he realized what it meant:

"Come exactly at the duel arena at 22 o'clock. We have something to discuss with you, so come alone. There are guards often there, so you can't slip that easy through the security."

It did make sense, there was a curfew at that time so most students would be send back to their rooms, especially the duel arena which a lot of students have trespassed to over the few weeks he was there. But who is this we? And for who was this written? And for what reason? It didn't take that long for Yujin to figure that out as he stood up.

Seeing how the day went, it was likely written for Lucian, by those Obelisk Blue bullies and they likely wanted to do something awful with him. Plus they know that Yujin wouldn't be there to help him now as they got in an argument.

"Well it's his own fault if he shows up there, plus there's no way he - Oh, who am I kidding it's obvious he'll show up. Well, it's his own fault still if he gets in trouble. I mean, why would I need him? I've got myself, if I want a sparring partner I'll just visit the duel arena on a daily basis. And duel, with nobody else to talk to every day, going through the same boring routine… alone. " Yujin sat down on his bed and sighed.

"God freaking damnit. I get it, I was being way too overly dramatic. Damn my heart for making me feel bad! … God I'm such a dork at times." He was now just rambling to himself, but decided it'd be best to slip out and go to the Duel Arena now, it was around 21:30 and if he runs he'd make it in a few minutes.

While sneaking past the guards was surprisingly easy, due to that it took him longer than expected to enter Duel Arena, it was now 21:45, meaning he still had a solid 15 minutes to wait. So he took his time opening some booster packs.

"Nope, nothing good here. Damn, nothing here has a value of even five dollar or more."

Yujin didn't however notice a few people walking past him to one of the few Duel Arena rooms right next to where he was, as the lights were out already. He did however start to hear some mumbling which made him curious.

"Oh, seems they're here already." He thought to himself as he threw the wrapper the cards were in on the ground and put the pulled cards in a separate deckbox.

Yujin slowly walked to the other room, not different from the other Duel Arena and turned on the lights.

"Okay, so what's going on here?!" He said trying to sound a bit more intimidating. What he saw however was far from what he expected. He was expecting some random bullies who dragged Lucian here, instead he saw: Lucian, Gabriel and... the chancellor?

There was a bit of an awkward silence till Yujin scrapped his throat.

"No really, what's going on. I'm genuinely confused."

"Did you invite him that scrub here?" Gabriel asked to his brother.

"Uhh no… But what are you doing here Yujin?" Lucian asked, incredibly confused.

"I would like to know the answer to that question too." The chancellor replied.

"Well, uh. I found this letter I expected to be adressed to Lucian inside of a sleeved **Mokey Mokey.** And I expected to be in trouble, and well… I got concerned for him." He was muttering the last few words.

"I beg your pardon?" The chancellor said.

"I was concerned for his wellbeing. Look Lucian, I know we got into a fight… but I'm sorry. When I thought you were trouble it started bothering me, and I just had to check if you were okay."

"You're sorry? Dude, I should be the one to apologize. I was the one who overreacted."

"No man, I've been a bad fr-friend." Yujin couldn't quite get the last word out of his mouth, then looked at Lucian with a sheepish smile.

"No man, I was the bad friend." Lucian said shaking his head.

"JUST ADMIT YOU WERE BOTH BAD FRIENDS." Gabriel shouted groaning loudly enough that people outside of the arena could hear it.

"You forgive me Lucian?"

"Of course buddy." Lucian walked over to Yujin and hugged him, lifting him off the ground.

"This is incredibly awkward, please put me down on the ground."

"Aw, how cute. And slightly gay." Gabriel said.

"Thanks for ruining this beautifully emotionally comment with your sass, ass." Yujin said.

"So…" Lucian and Yujin said at the same time.

"I guess I should explain what's going on right?"

"Yes, I think that'd be the best way to clear this mess up." The chancellor said nodding in agreement.

"Well, as you know the letter called me here. But, you didn't know why. See I'm here, because…" Lucian was a bit too ashamed to continue.

"I'm tutoring my little brother in dueling." Gabriel stated proudly.

"You're… tutoring him? I thought you disliked him." Yujin was somewhat confused.

"Hey, he might be a crappy duelist, but he's still my lil bro. Plus, if I mold him into a good duelist I'm sure our parents would be proud of both of us."

"Never knew you had a heart."

"Oh shut up." Gabriel stared at Yujin.

"So, why's the chancellor here?"

"He had the spare keys to the arena so that we could practice after the curfew, since due to my tight schedule I don't have much time except for now. So due to my number 3 status in the academy he was willing to pull a few strings to give us access to the arena while he'd oversee the duels."

"Well that all makes sense, I'll be going to bed, you know fresh start and all of that." Yujin tried to sneak away again.

"Halt, come back here this instant mister Shojiki." the chancellor said, surprisingly pronouncing Yujin's surname correct.

"Yes sir." Yujin gulped.

"For trespassing, and breaking the curfew I should punish you normally. However, since it was for the sake of concern over a friend I'll let it pass for now. Next time, warn the teacher instead of pulling of such dangerous stunts. Or I might have to expel you. Do try to not get expelled, as an Obelisk Blue I expect you to have a lot of potential. Now go, before I change my mind."

"Yes sir." Yujin left.

"Hah, you got your ass owned dude." a giggling voice said.

"Oh shut up Lazuli. Wait, Lazuli? H-how long were you here."

"Dude, I saw the whole thing. Haven't laughed like that in a long time."

"Oh shut up."

"Aw, are you blushing? How cute."

"Seriously, shut up."

"Okay, okay. Only if you admit I was right."

"Fine, you were right. Now let's go to bed."

If a person could see Lazuli's mouth right now you'd probably see the widest grin imaginable as she chuckled at her partner's misfortune as they left to go back to the dorms.


	8. Chapter 8: Academia Khatru

It was around 7:00, Yujin had woken up an hour ago and just stepped out of the shower.

"Yo, Zeph, next time, don't use up all the hot water."

"Sorry man, once I start singing under the shower I forgot all around me." Zephyr was checking Facebook on his phone, as he was updating his status.

"Yeah, I figured that out in three weeks. You know how many times I've had those songs you sing stuck in my head? I still have that stupid song by Rihanna stuck in my head." Yujin was in the bathroom putting on his outfit.

"Eh, I don't like the song either, but it's far too catchy. Work, work, work, work, work, work. He say me have to-"

"Yeah, okay I get it. It's like a worm nested in my ear. It's literally driving me insane."

"Figuratively Yujin, come on. You're better than that." Lazuli said waiting outside the bathroom for her partner.

"Okay, I got it roomie. Though you have to admit, my rendition of **Back in Black** was great."

There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Yujin said, obviously trying to avoid the topic. He opened the door and noticed it was Lucian.

"How did you get here so early?" Yujin was a bit surprised.

"A simple hello would've been nice."

"Hey Lucian!" Zephyr said waving to Lucian with a big grin on his face.

"Hey Zephyr. So, Lucian, this is going to sound stupid…"

"Buuuuuut?" Yujin said continuing the sentence.

"I'll need that **Mokey Mokey** back."

"Sure, but… Why?" Yujin questioned

"It's kind of my brother's card, and he for some reason really loves that card."

"Seriously, **Mokey Mokey** is one of his favorite cards? Who would love such a crappy vanilla."

"Isn't your deck filled with Normal Monsters?" Zephyr said in the back

"That's different! Mine are actually useful!"

"Riiiight." Zephyr and Lucian simultaneously said.

Yujin grabbed the card he had left sleeved on the drawer and gave it to Lucian.

"Thanks Yujin. Good luck in class."

"Oh right, you two have your tests coming up right?" Zephyr got kind of bored of his phone and stood up walking over to them.

"Yeah, since it's the first tests we'll be having it's going to be pretty rough." Lucian kept his head low, showing he's rather nervous.

"No worries, if they're anything like the ones I had last year you'll at the very least have 50% right."

"… Doesn't that still count as failing?"

"Eh, yes. Since if I recall, Slifer's need a minimum of 60% right, while Obelisk's need 80% right."

"Sheesh, that much?" Yujin was sighing. He had walked away from Zephyr and Lucian and was pouring a cup of tea for himself.

"You know, I think the best you two can do is start a study group."

"A what now?" Yujin said.

"You know, a study group. A group where you and perhaps more people go and study together. "

"Actually Zeph, that's not a bad idea." Yujin said as he walked back and took a sip of his tea.

"Yeah, I could invite my roommate perhaps if he's up for it."

"The more the merrier I'd say, mine's pretty successful. Though it's just a small group of me, my ex-roomie who unfortunately had to go to Ra Yellow, his new roommate and my girlfriend."

Yujin spit out his hot tea and started choking.

"I'm sorry, YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?" He was rather amazed.

"Uh, yeah. Is that hard to believe?"

"Actually, yes. You seem like the guy who'd get slapped if he'd ask a girl out."

"No, I'm actually a smooth guy if it comes to the ladies."

"Well, that answers that. And why you a student a year above me has me as a roommate." Yujin said to himself.

"Anyway, I'll ask my roommate then, I'll see you guys later."

"Say, what class do we have anyway now?"

"I think it's PE."

"Uuuugh. See you later Lucian." Yujin realized he had to grap some clothing for PE, but waved goodbye to Lucian first as he closed the door.

"No worries about the clothes partner, already put them in a bag."

Yujin friendly nodded to Lazuli as he saw that Zephyr was busy on his phone again, though he seemed to be on Whatsapp now texting some messages in a group chat.

Yujin grabbed the bag and looked at his phone realizing a half hour had passed since he stepped out of the shower, meaning class would start in 30 minutes, and he hasn't even had breakfast yet.

"Zeph, dude. Class is going to start in 30 minutes, if you at the least want some toast to eat we should hurry."

"Wait, really? Okay then."

Both Yujin and Zephyr left their dorm room as Zephyr locked the room. Luckily it was only a five minute run to the cafeteria, and even less to simply grab some toast as there were no students to block their way. Both grabbed their piece of toast, put it in their mouth and nodded as they went their separate ways to class.

Yujin walked to the main PE building. It was a large building that had multiple different rooms, which were used for multiple indoors sports and to separate huge classes in smaller groups which would make it easier for all the dozens of PE teachers. Yujin went to one of the boy's locker rooms as he realized he had to change clothing again from his school uniform to his PE clothes. Lazuli was waiting outside once again. It took him a few minutes, but once he put on the clothing he put the rest of his stuff inside of his personal locker.

Now all he had to do was enter the main room where the students would be split in multiple groups, most of the time of the same rank and gender unless it was going to be a match and take them to one of the smaller rooms for exercise. Though Yujin was just on time, he seemed to be the last of the students to actually enter, causing quite a few odd glares from other students. He saw that most of the year 1 students were there, though he did notice Lucy wasn't here to his surprise.

"Well isn't that a delight, guess she got sick." Yujin thought to himself happily.

"So, where's the teacher?" one of the students said confused, normally the teacher would be on time waiting for the others, but there was no one in sight. But as he said that the door opened as a teacher walked in with a group of others behind him. He was tall, almost two meters and had an incredibly muscular build. He must've been in his late 20's and seemed to be off Asian origin. He had noticeably dark-brown piercing eyes and thick dark hair. Though he was wearing the typical PE teacher outfit he did seem to wear a ring on his ring finger, which seemed rather familiar to Yujin.

"Okay, listen up. I'm Yang Jin, the head instructor. Now, normally I'd make one of assistants do this, but I wanted to organize a little tournament." He had a voice that could only be described as a badass baritone. it was a rather rough voice and with a guy of that frame a bit intimidating for the students.

"It's going to quite simple, we're going to play dodgeball. Each group will be split in their respective colors. For those who somehow don't know the rules, I'll explain. Hit by a ball? You're out on the bench." Mister Yang demonstrated by throwing a ball against one of his assistants who stumbled and fell.

"It of course doesn't count if it hits the ground or the wall first, or if the ball bounced off another student. If a ball's caught however…" Before he continued one of the other instructors threw a ball which he managed to catch.

"The person who threw it is out and you can bring back one person of your team from the bench. We'll go on until only one team's left, oh and also crossing the line means you're out. Any questions?"

An Obelisk student ended up raising their hand.

"Yes, you there. "

"Well, I've got three questions. One: on what field are we going to play? Two: How will be distribute the playing fields for 3 teams of such a big class? And 3: Isn't it a bit unfair? Blue Students only make up for like 20% of the class."

"Well, we'll be going to the main field, which I've already split in 3 equal parts, and if you're part of the higher end of the class I expect you to work at the least twice as hard as the rest, even during this class. You got that?" Mister Yang stared at the student who quickly nodded his head.

"Good, now will you follow please follow me to the court?" As he said that the students quickly stood up, some clearly afraid, whether it was for the fact they were going to play dodgeball or the teacher was arguable.

Yujin was rather worried, he was pretty bad at dodgeball due to his lousy aim. He was good at the dodging part, but the only way he'd hit a person was if they were very close. And there was no way Lazuli would happen to help him, since she'd find that cheating. She was currently just floating above her partner patting him on the back and giving a thumbs up to wish him good luck.

"Oh boy, please tell this will be over quick." he rambled.

As he entered the main court, he noticed how huge it was. Even compared to his classroom this was huge. This place seemed big enough to have enough place for at the least 200 people if they had to place against each other, though Yujin's class only has somewhat more than half of that. Yujin never quite kept count, but believes there must've been around 120 people, with around 25 being Blue and the rest being an almost equal split between Red and Yellow. The field was as the teacher said split into 3 equal parts with a colored pylon representing each rank.

"Okay, everyone please go to your side of the field. Each team will get 5 balls, meaning there are only 15 in the game. My assistants here will hand them to you or your teammates, and don't start until I whistle, okay?" The students nodded at mister Yang as he was done explaining.

"Do you guys have the balls or what?" Yang said to one of his assistants.

"Yes Shifu, we have 15, just as you asked." He replied back.

"Did he just seriously call him Shifu? As in the word for master in Chinese?" Yujin said in awe as he walked to his side of the field.

"Well, it also means teacher or mentor right? Plus he's the boss… so uh.. yeah I have no idea why." Lazuli was rather dumbfounded.

The assistants had handed 5 balls to each team, though luckily for the sake of the Obelisk Blue Yujin didn't get a ball handed to him.

Yang was inspecting the field and waited until everyone was ready, he whistled using his fingers to show the game had started. As the game started it was obvious that the other colors were teaming up against the Slifer Red's as they immediately went for them. Though a few managed to dodge a solid 5 were taken out of the game. Lucian managed to grab one of the balls thrown, immediately bringing back one of the other Slifers, while defeating a Ra Yellow student. And due to the reckless behavior of the others the Slifers has access to all the dodgeballs. Lucian faked a throw at another Ra Yellow's feet and managed to hit them in the stomach while two others managed to hit a Blue student, but made sure to keep the rest of the balls in their arsenal.

"Well daaaaaamn." Yujin was quite surprised that Lucian was this skilled at the game.

One of the blue students grabbed a ball and threw it rather high at one of the Red students

"Pfft, like you'll hit anyone with that." The red student replied, but before he knew it he was hit by another ball which bounced back to the Blue students.

"The old Lob and Drill technique huh." Yang was sipping on his glass while watching the match.

Now one of the Red Students got impatient and tried to launch one of the balls against the Yellow Students however it hit the ground first meaning one of the other students could grab it with ease.

"Aw, how bad." A female Ra Yellow taunted her opponent waving the ball. This caused another Slifer Red to lose his cool as he threw the ball right at her, she however used the ball in her hand to deflect the ball upwards allowing another student to catch it.

"Aaaand he's out. Didn't touch the ground or the wall. And now the Ra's can bring back one of their fallen comrades." Yang said as he whistled to signal it counted.

Ra's now had the advantage as they hadn't lost a single student. This didn't last for long though as another Ra tried to throw another ball which Lucian managed to catch, and threw out another Yellow Student while he was at it.

The female Ra Yellow from earlier threw a ball to an unsuspecting Slifer hitting him in the head as the ball bounced back to her, however a Red Student tried to take her off guard as she threw a ball at her, which deflected using the same technique, allowing another Ra student to catch it. Once more now had the Ra students all of their members back.

However in the madness of Ra V Slifer an Obelisk Student used the only ball the team had left and hurled it at the Slifers, hitting another student.

The Slifers took this as an opportunity to hit 3 nearby Obelisk's as they sled forwards to them, one of the balls rolled over to Ra, while the other 2 rolled stayed at Obelisk. Yujin took the time to count as he noticed that there were only around 20 Obelisk's left while Ra and Slifer still had around 45 people.

"Sheesh, even with them teaming up the Slifers still seem to be quite good."

The same Ra Yellow student as before managed to hit two Slifers with the same ball as the coach signaled they were out.

"Okay, who the hell is that chick." Yujin muttered to himself.

Lazuli interjected and replied: "I believe she's in your Duel History class, her name was… let's see Brittney? No wait, I think it was Bridget. Can't remember the surname, but I sure know it was Russian."

"Aaaand how do you know that?" Yujin scratched his head.

"Well being an incorporeal being that cannot interact with any other person except for you, I get really bored. So I spend a lot of time memorizing the name of other students in your classes."

"That's…. oddly convenient."

"I think you should really get back to focus on the game partner." Lazuli said.

However as she said that 2 Reds tried to hit Yujin, but he narrowly managed to dodge them as he passed the two balls to two other Blue students who threw them square in the chest.

The Ra student who apparently was called Bridget hit another Slifer by doing what could only be described as a spinning backhand throw. She high fived two other Ra's who cheered her on.

"Seems they're all passing the balls to her, makes sense. She seems to be their heavy hitter." Yujin kept analyzing the field.

Some Red's ended up doing confusing movements and then out of nowhere Slifers from behind ended up throwing 5 balls hitting 2 Obelisks and 3 Ra's.

"Heh, this is all going to plan." It seemed Lucian had taken over as the unofficial captain of the team and had been employing these kind of strategies. It was quite different from the others, Ra seemed to rely on Bridget played a supportive game till they can strike compared to the tactical strategies of the Slifers or the chaotic nature of the Obelisks where it seemed to be every man or woman for themselves.

The game was only going for 10 minutes now, but it was already quite a massive battlefield. Even though there were only 20 people out of the game, one could see that Slifers despite all of this had the advantage. Yujin tossed the ball to his teammates and kept watch on the game, he mostly really just didn't want to get hit.

The game went on for another solid five minutes as the Slifers managed to hit out 3 more Blue's and 5 more Ra's, all while catching 3 more balls thrown by Blue meaning they could bring back 3 more Slifers.

Yujin had employed a hit and run technique where he'd run close to the edge to grab as many balls as possible and either try to hit them or more often or not pass them, he did manage to throw off 1 Red student though.

"Now this is getting interesting." Yang had finished his drink and was simply sitting there keeping watch on the students playing and those on the bench to see if they were injured, none however were hurt. Well, except for maybe their pride.

"Damn, can't believe those Slifer Slackers are doing so well." One Ra Yellow student muttered.

The Obelisks and Ra's nodded towards each other as it seemed they both had come up with a plan. The Slifers were about to do an Aerial attack using 4 of their students, but as they leapt in the air they got hit on their legs by a combination of Ra and Obelisk students, and the two of these balls even managed to reflect off to two more students.

"Heh, I never expected them to employ the fact hitting 2 students with one ball counts with so much ease." Yang was still looking on towards the field.

It seemed the tides had turned as it turned into a slaughter for the Slifers, the underdogs who were doing so well. In a few minutes 10 more Slifers were taken down, either by catching or by hitting them while they were trying to throw. Even though Slifer still possessed the majority of the dodgeballs it was clear now they were losing. However, even with that they managed to hit 4 Ra Yellows with Lucian's help who was shining throughout the match.

"Damnit, we're going to lose." A female Slifer student cried out.

Lucian didn't know what to do at this point really and simply chugged balls at high speeds now, though he managed to hit a few Ra's he kept thinking he was going to lose.

It only took 15 more minutes, but it was clear what had happened. Only 20 more minutes left till class was over, but the field had changed a lot. Gone was Slifers monopoly on the dodgeballs, they only had 7 students left, including Lucian. Obelisk decided to play dirty and even hit a few unsuspecting Ra's as it seemed the alliance between the two had broken, but due to that chaos the Ra's only had 10 left of their own, and might've been the only reason the Slifers were still on the field now. There were only 10 Obelisks left, but they now held the majority of the dodgeballs.

Yujin was still left as he mostly hid in the back and only threw the balls to the other Obelisks, though it seemed that was the factor that gave them the new majority of the balls with them having 9 out of 15.

In a quick second both Ra and Obelisk threw a few balls leaving now only 3 more left. All 3 Slifers now had 2 balls in their hand as they ran forwards and employed waved their arms like windmills which managed to distract a few as they could hit 1 Obelisk and 2 Ra's.

3 Obelisks threw their dodgeballs, but Lucian caught 1 mid-air and reflected the other two which caused his teammates to catch them, removing 3 Obelisks, and bringing 3 of his own back. However the other 2 were caught off-guard by Bridget as she hit both of them with a single ball. Yujin was quite surprised by how well she was handling all of this, as she stared at the other Slifers with her marine blue eyes and brushed her blonde hair which was neatly tied up in a ponytail.

Lucian grabbed two balls and looked at the other slifers. He knew there was only one thing he could do, unless they took out Bridget there was no way they'd win. He ran forwards and to the line and jumped.

"Mother of god, he's doing a suicide attack." An Obelisk said.

Just before he was over the line he threw the ball with enough force that he'd know she couldn't catch or dodge them in time.

"Heh, predictable." Bridget snickered as another Ra jumped in front of her as a meatshield.

"W-What?!" Lucian said as he fell face-down on the floor.

"And you're out." Bridget walked over to Lucian taunting him with a disgusting smile on her face mocking him.

The other slifers were now easy targets as it didn't take the other students even a minute to knock them out, making all of Lucian's efforts for nothing.

"Silly Slifer slackers, you guys really thought you could win? Such efforts for nothing." Some Obelisks and Ra's were now acting cruel against the Slifers as they were all defeated. Lucian grabbed his nose as due to the fall on his face he seemed to have a nosebleed. Yang had asked one of his assistants to bring him to the school nurse which Lucian complied with and left early.

Obelisk immediately went on the offensive as they hit 5 Ra's in one fell swoop leaving only Bridget and 1 other left. The other tried to prove herself and threw a ball, however one of the students jumped forward to catch it, but ended up over the line meaning they were both out.

It was Bridget against 5 Obelisks, including Yujin who simply survived due to dumb luck. The Obelisk Blue's got cocky and laughed.

"This will be easy, no way she can take 4 people on at the same time." A female student said, as they were clearly ignoring Yujin and only really using him to get more balls. They threw with all force they had at her.

"Too easy." Bridget smirked as she sled forwards on her knees grabbing two of the thrown balls as if it was nothing and knocked the other two with them.

"NO WAY!" The female blue shouted.

However it wasn't over as soon she finished the sentence Bridget threw the dodgeballs with enough force to hit both the female blue and another student. In a single moment the tides had turned leaving Yujin as the only Obelisk while Bridget had 2 more Ra's to help her.

Yujin gulped as Bridget kept throwing balls with what felt like the power of a canon, however Yujin kept jumping out of her way to survive as long as possible.

"STOP DODGING YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" She shouted as she kept launching dodgeballs with so much force that most even rolled back to her, not giving Yujin enough time to grab his own dodgeballs for a counterattack. The students were looking in awe, Bridget was getting tired and if Yujin could survive for maybe a minute she'd be too tired to continue and Yujin could perhaps win!

But as faith would have it, he wasn't destined to win this battle. Yujin slipped over a dodgeball he hadn't noticed and got hit square in his face as he fell on his ass.

Yang whistled stating the game was over.

"Ra Yellow has won with 3 player's left. Now everyone, hit the shower."

"Damnit." Yujin said as he grabbed his nose, it wasn't bleeding but it did quite hurt. He stood up and walked over to Bridget to congratulate her.

"Good game, you were quite feisty you know. Pretty amazing how you played, it was quite the spectacle." Yujin reached out his hand as he complimented her. However, instead of shaking his hand Bridget laughed, hard.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but did you really want to shake my hand? After that pathetic battle you just had with me?"

"Jesus woman, just take a compliment." Yujin was getting clearly annoyed.

"Look hon, if I needed someone to strike my ego I'd talk to the girls at my dorm. Or were you trying to hit on me? If so, that's even more pathetic."

"… Maybe." Yujin didn't deny nor confirm he was.

"Oooooh boooooy." Lazuli had a feeling where this was going.

"Wow, just wow. So how does it feel?"

"Feel to be what?"

"To be a _loser._ All you did was throw the balls to the others so you wouldn't have to. _"_

"Hey! I threw out one person!"

"Oh wow, one person. That's such an achievement."

"What's your problem?!" Yujin was getting more and more frustrated.

"What my problem is? Your lack of bloodlust on the battlefield. All you did was cower, hide and pass the ball. A true duelist would take action and lead the battle. You could've proven yourself, like those weak Slifers, but all you did was hide. Pa-the-tic."

"You want to see how I am on a battlefield? Fine-"

"Don't do it Yujin, this is not a good idea." Lazuli tried to calm her partner down, but Yujin just stared at her showing he was going to do it.

"One duel, after school, 17:00 in the Duel Arena where everyone can see."

"Oh, now that's an offer I cannot refuse. Deal." Bridget snickered, clearly enjoying herself. She turned around and left for the girl's locker room.

"See you after school, _Yujin._ "

Yujin stormed off to the boys locker room as he could hear the other students booing him.

"Wait…" Lazuli said as she figured out something while waiting outside for Yujin.

"How did she know his name?"


	9. Chapter 9: Paths of Glory - Part 1

It was 12:00, and there were no classes for Yujin to attend to for another hour. He wasn't really hungry, so he decided to go to the local card shop, deciding he could buy some more packs. As he entered the shop he noticed Lucian there talking with another person.

"Hey, Lucian." He said as he walked over to the two.

"Oh hey Yujin. Well, this is my roommate I mentioned." He replied back.

"Hey…" His roommate murmured. The roommate was a bit taller than Yujin, had messy light-blue hair and no real other defining traits other than the fact he wore glasses. He was overall, kind of generic.

"So, uh I'm Yujin, a friend of Lucian."

"My name is Fleming, Sean Fleming." Lucian's roommate, apparently named Sean said, though he seemed to avoid eye contact.

"So, what were you two talking about?" Yujin was a bit curious.

"Oh, just asked him if he wanted to join the small study group. I told him it was just going to be you and me.

"Yeah, I'd prefer a small group over a big one." Yujin said.

"Well, if it's just 3 people I think I'm okay with it." Sean said.

"How did I end up with the two most anti-social people on campus?" Lucian thought to himself.

"Well, that's okay than. Guess we'll study after class?" Yujin asked.

"Don't you have a duel after class?"

"Oh… right. Totally forgot about that bi- I mean, person." Yujin corrected himself as he noticed some people staring at him.

"Do you even know her? I swear, she acted like she knew you." Lucian said as he and Sean paid for a couple of packs.

"I don't think so? I don't think I've ever met anybody from Russia."

"Well, I'd watch out for her. She's in my _Synchro Summon_ class, and she seems one of the better Ra's."

"Guess I at the least know what kind of summon she uses now."

"Hey, Lucian I got an **Honest** from my pack, do you want it?"

"Oh sweet, thanks Sean." Lucian grabbed it and thanked Sean.

"Well, I'll leave the two of you alone, I'm going to look what they have in stock." Yujin walked around the shop as they have multiple kinds of booster packs stored behind glass cases. He walked over to one of the store clerics and bought a few packs as he left.

As he was standing outside of the shop and opened some packs Lazuli appeared.

"Yujin, are you sure you want to do this?" She said, as she seemed to be a bit worried.

"Do what? The duel?"

"Yeah, I mean… don't you think she's a bit odd?"

"Eh, it seems so, but I'm pretty sure I'm cursed at this point. I try to hit on 2 women, and both end up being psychopaths." Yujin was glancing upon one of the packs he opened, revealing nothing of worth.

"Well, for one. She knows your name."

Yujin went silent for a second, until he shook his head. "I bet she must've heard it in class, I mean the teachers have called me a few times, and due to my 'unique' appearance I'm sure I'm not easy to forget."

"But, what if-"

"Look Lazuli, I get it. You're worried, but what's the worst that can happen? She's just a duelist with an ego, if anything bad happens during the duel I'll just do what I did with Lucy and bail. You don't have to worry for me, I can take care of myself."

"Yeah… I guess, but promise me you won't do anything stupid. I don't want you to get in trouble."

"I'll try." Yujin opened another pack as he saw he pulled a really good card.

"Oh sweet, I'm totally putting that in my deck." Yujin grabbed his deck box as he removed one of the cards and replaced it with the new one.

"So, what card did you put in?" Lazuli asked.

"It's a secret, you'll probably see it in the duel." Yujin said as he smiled at his partner.

A few hours had passed as class had ended, Yujin rushed to one Duel Arena's as he noticed Bridget was already there.

"Ah, you finally showed up. Was wondering if you were even going to appear at all." She chuckled a bit.

"Hah, I wouldn't want to miss a duel. " Yujin glanced at Bridget. This was the first time he actually saw her outside of her gym outfit. She had her hair braided which ended up splitting in 3 different ends and the hair at the side of her face were tied with some hair elastics. She also wore a small silver pendant with a crest that resembled a flame.

Lazuli was watching her partner as she floated behind him, she still didn't trust what was going on. She had a really bad feeling about it, rather understandably. Yet she had promised Yujin to not be worried, so she tried to at least look calm as she followed him to one of the unoccupied arena's. There didn't seem to be any people, as most were watching the other duelists.

"Ah, a quiet space. Those are hard to find you know." Bridget said as she grabbed a Duel Disk.

"Yeah, I mean it's a school for dueling so of course it's popular." Yujin said doing the same thing.

"So, who goes first?" She put the deck in her Duel Disk as it got shuffled.

"We'll let the Duel Disk decide. It has a built in coin flip right?" Yujin said.

"Right, I'll call tails." Bridget was getting disinterested.

Lazuli looked at Yujin's Duel Disk as the virtual coin landed on heads.

"I'll go first it seems." Yujin said.

"Ready." Bridget said.

"Set." Yujin continued.

"DUEL!" They both said in unison as they drew their opening hands.

 **Turn 1: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

Lazuli took a peek at Yujin's hand and noticed it was quite terrible.

"Seems you bricked." She said to him.

"I know, I can't do anything at all with this hand." he whispered.

"Are you going to make a move or what?" Bridget was getting impatient.

"Yeah, I'll set 1 monster and one card in my Spell/Trap Zone, then I'll end my turn." He said as 2 face-down cards appeared floating in a what looked like the letter T now.

 **Turn 2: Bridget**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: 1 face-down.**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 face-down.**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

"Heh." Bridget laughed as she looked at the card she drew. She held the pendant on her neck with her hand as she took a deep breath.

"What is she doing?" Lazuli asked to Yujin who merely shrugged. She tried to act a bit more cheerful like she normally does, though there was a hint of worry.

"I'll activate the Spell Card **Molten Conduction Field**."

Lazuli's eyes shot wide at the name of the Spell Card mentioned as she suddenly dropped mid-air and fell in shock.

"Molten Conduction Zone is a Spell Card that allows you to send, two _Laval_ monsters from my Deck to the Graveyard." Bridget declared.

Lazuli was standing behind Yujin who hadn't notice her fall, she was scared for unknown reasons, but didn't want to alert her partner.

"I'll send these two pair of sisters: " **Laval Volcano Handmaiden** andher older sister **Laval Lakeside Lady**. And that's not all, when Handmaiden is send to the Graveyard I can send another Laval to my Graveyard from my hand, if I have another Laval in my Graveyard. And will you look at that, I do."

"So that means you can get an extra **Foolish Burial** pretty much?" Yujin said.

"Bingo, and I can even send a copy of herself." Another Handmaiden was sent to the Graveyard.

"And another." Bridget dumped another one in her Graveyard.

"And finally I'll send the younger sister of the trio to the Graveyard: **Laval Forest Sprite**."

"Now you have 5 monsters in your Graveyard… that's rather worrying" Yujin said as he looked at his hand.

"Oh, but don't think I'm done yet. I'll use Lakeside Lady's effect, by banishing her and Handmaiden I can destroy 1 set card on the field. So say goodbye to that backrow!" She tapped her Duel Disk as the cards from her Graveyard ejected out, which she had to store in her deck box now.

Yujin begrudgingly destroyed his face-down, a **Mystical Space Typhoon**.

"Next I'll Normal Summon **Flamvell Firedog.** " _**(FIRE, Beast, Level 4, 1900 ATK, 200 DEF.)**_ A lava coated dog appeared next to Bridget.

"That's not a Laval." Yujin said.

"Oh no, but it does help my deck a lot especially for this battle." She said, as she prepared to enter her Battle Phase.

"She even has the Flamvell too…" Lazuli said, getting increasingly worried.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Firedog, attack that face-down!" Smoke appeared from its mouth as it charged at the face-down card revealing **Gem-Knight Tourmaline** _ **(1800 DEF)**_ Tourmaline stood no chance as it got bitten by Firedog, whose mouth was were literally burning with excitement.

Lazuli looked on in horror as Tourmaline's armor cracked and he disappeared from the field, she almost wanted to scream.

"You're using Gem-Knights?" Bridget starting laughing.

"What's so funny about that?" Yujin said annoyed.

"Oh nothing, it's just _perfect._ Now, Firedog's effect, if he destroys a monster by battle I can Special Summon 1 monster with 200 or less DEF from my deck, except for another copy of him. I'll Special Summon **Laval Lakeside Lady** _ **(FIRE, Pyro, Tuner, Level 3, 200 ATK, 200 DEF.)**_

"She's also a tuner, huh?" Yujin noted.

"Oh, and she'll attack you directly." Bridget said as she pointed towards Yujin. Lakeside lady looked very disinterested for a bit, until a cruel smile formed upon her face as burning cinders appeared in her hands forming a small fireball which she launched at Yujin who stumbled a bit back.

 **Yujin's LP: 8000-200=7800 LP.**

 **Enter Main Phase 2.**

"Heh, that was nothing." Yujin stated.

"Of course, it was only a measly 200 damage. Now I'll tune these two monsters! Wishes of those who lost their body, awaken the God of Ancient Flames! I Synchro Summon **Ancient Flamvell Deity!** " _ **(FIRE, Pyro, Level 7, 2500 ATK, 200 DEF.)**_

An enormous dark-toned being appeared with fire all around his muscular body. He had crossed his arms and looked incredibly menacing.

"Incredible." Lazuli was in awe as she stared at the legendary being that stood before her.

Yujin seemed to be unimpressed as he looked at the monster. "So, what does it do?"

"Glad you asked, with its effect I can banish monsters from your Graveyard up to the number you have in your hand and he then gains 200 ATK for each." The two cards destroyed earlier were forced out of his Graveyard as Yujin had to store them away.

 **Ancient Flamvell Deity (2500+400=2900 ATK.)**

"I'll end my turn." Bridget said.

 **Turn 3: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 7800**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 6700**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Ancient Flamvell Deity (2900 ATK)**

Yujin drew a card as he looked at Lazuli.

"Hey are you okay? You look rather nervous."

"What, me? I'm fine, just a bit intimidated by that monster. It's a literal god after all." Lazuli said, telling half of the truth as something clearly bothered her.

"Hah, a god? I'm not afraid of such a being, for not even they can parallel an united force of good." Yujin proudly proclaimed.

"Oh, getting a bit cocky aren't we?" Bridget said.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I'll Normal Summon **Gem-Armadillo.** _ **(EARTH, Rock, Level 4, 1700 ATK, 500 DEF)**_. And when he's Summoned I can add a Gem-Knight monster, so say hello to Garnet!"

"And luckily I drew this! I activate **Gem-Knight Fusion**! Gem tinged with Fire, become one with the green stone and forge brilliant light! Fusion Summon! Appear! He who destroys! **Gem-Knight Ruby**!" _**(EARTH, Pyro, Level 6, ATK: 2500, DEF: 1300.)**_

"You're up Lazuli." Lazuli slowly nodded as she and Garnet fused together forming Ruby who gallantly appeared on the field. Lazuli's spirit was still conscious and still appeared next to Yujin, albeit a lot more faded, like only half of it was there.

"It must be kind of weird to be at two places at the same time." Yujin stated.

"Yeah, I know part of my conscious is in Ruby, and I can feel it.. yet I'm still here. It's very different from a normal fusion since a part of me is still here." Lazuli was a bit disoriented, she hadn't gotten used to this phenomenon yet.

Bridget looked a bit annoyed as she knew what was going to happen.

"Lazuli's effect, I add Garnet back to my hand, and then I'll banish her to add Gem-Knight Fusion back. Next I'll use Ruby's effect to tribute Armadillo and let him gain 1700 ATK!" Ruby slammed his weapon into Armadillo as a surge of power surrounded him.

 **Gem-Knight Ruby (ATK: 2500+1700=4200)**

"Victory often asks for sacrifices, and using these kind of tactics prove that don't you think?" Bridget asked.

"Perhaps, but your so called deity is finished!"

 **Enter Battle Phase**

 **"** Ruby attack her monster!" Ruby jumped up in the air as he prepared to strike Ancient Flamvell Deity, but the deity created an inferno to stop the gem. However, for a flame warrior it was nothing as he jumped effortlessly through the flames. He slashed at deity's legs as the god-like being fell down to his knees. Ruby rammed his weapon straight through the divine being's chest and dragged it along with great speed cutting the being in two.

 **Bridget's LP: 8000-1300=6700 LP**

"Ah, wasn't that splendid?" Bridget said as she sarcastically clapped.

"Hah, your pitiful Synchro was nothing compared to Ruby, you really should've just gone for something else like **Black Rose Moonlight Dragon**."

"I don't run it, but thanks. I'll take that into consideration." Bridget said, once again sarcastically.

"I'll end my turn. Ruby's stats will return to normal. I'm enjoying this duel aren't you?"

 **Gem-Knight Ruby: (4200 ATK-1700=2500 ATK)**

 **Turn 4: Bridget**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 7800**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Ruby (2500 ATK)**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

"Enjoying myself? I guess you don't know what a duel is." Bridget said while chuckling

"I know what a duel is, it seems you're the one who's misguided." Yujin said.

"I think you should pay a little bit of attention to the duel Yujin. For I drew this card: **Gold Sarcophagus**!" A the aforementioned card appeared behind Bridget floating in the air.

"With its effect I can banish 1 card from my deck, and add it to my hand during my second Standby Phase after I've activated it! And with its effect I'll banish **Rekindling!** "

Yujin and Lazuli gasped at the same time.

"I see you know the spell card." Bridget said.

"Rekindling a limited spell card with the effect to summon as many FIRE monsters as you want with 200 or less DEF from your Graveyard." Yujin stated.

"Bingo, so the moment I use this I've won this duel. You've only got 2 turns left Yujin."

Lazuli was nervous and started fidgeting, she really didn't know what to do.

"Next, I'll Normal Summon **Laval Cannon.** " _ **(FIRE, Warrior, Level 4, 1600 ATK, 900 DEF.)**_ _._ A big bulky warrior appeared holding a giant cannon in his hand.

"With his effect I can Special Summon 1 of my banished Laval, come forth **Laval Volcano Handmaiden**!" _**(FIRE, Pyro, Tuner, Level 1, 100 ATK, 200 DEF.)**_

"Oh, so you can get a free Synchro Summon now." Yujin stated.

"Correct once again, seems you're smarter than you look. I'll tune my two monsters! As the elements fade into darkness, once the light strikes the darkness revolt back! Seek and destroy! **Ally of Justice - Catastor!** " _**(DARK, Machine, Level 5, 2200 ATK, 1200 DEF.)**_

An incredibly odd looking machine appeared, it six insect-like legs with golden tips. It's body was mostly white and at the end of its body had 2 small golden spikes. Its single eye stared upon Ruby as it slowly tilted its golden head.

"She even has an Ally of Justice…" Lazuli didn't like where this was going.

"I think we all know his effect don't we? If he attacks a non-DARK monster it'll be immediately destroyed. And guess what I'll do."

 **Enter Battle Phase**

 **"** Catastor attack his pitiful monster!" Catastor slowly walked forward to Ruby, but suddenly went to a sprint as it fired multiple laser beams, Ruby managed to deflect them but as Catastor jumped on Ruby it started using its legs to scratch Ruby and pierced right through his crest as another laser blew him up. Lazuli started coughing as she could feel the pain transmitted to her body as she fell down.

"Hey, are you okay?" Yujin said as he helped his partner back up without alerting Bridget.

"Yeah, it just hurt a bit more than expected." Lazuli was injured, but now it seemed all of her spirit was back.

"What was with that attack anyway?! " Yujin said looking angry to Bridget.

"Aw, you're angry your little toy is destroyed? I'm sorry Yujin, but that's how it's supposed to be."

"What's supposed to be?"

"A duel, it's not just a game. It's a battlefield, it's _war._ It's not pretty, but they still exist. The weak warriors support the stronger ones in the small hope to survive. These monsters are pitiful."

"Don't you care for your deck? Don't you care if your own monsters are destroyed?"

"Hah, for them it should be an honor. Death in combat is the biggest honor a warrior should have, and if they can't respect that, they shouldn't be on a battlefield."

"It's disappointing, I can see you have passion in your dueling, but your heart is at the wrong place."

"How about you put your money where your mouth is and show me 'how I'm wrong.'

"I'll show you how wrong you are!" Yujin said as he looked at Lazuli who could barely stand up now.

"Heh, I'll show you the true meaning of dueling." Bridget said as she ended her turn.

(Duel will continue next chapter)


	10. Chapter 10: Paths of Glory - Part 2

**(Part 2, due to ruling mistake I editted it a bit.)**

 **Turn 5: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 7800**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 6700**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field: Ally of Justice - Catastor (2200 ATK)**

 **Amount of turns left before Golden Sarcophagus is resolved: 2.**

"Okay, it's my turn now." Yujin noted as he thought of a way to get rid of Catastor.

"Is there any way to get rid of him with this hand? There's not even a single card there with a monster destruction effect, or in our Extra Deck." Lazuli stated.

"Heh, I've got an idea, but…" Yujin looked at Lazuli, after the devastating blow to her by Catastor she did seemed to be in a bit of pain.

"Look, if you're worried about me, don't worry. I'll be okay." Lazuli tried to keep Yujin calm.

"Are you sure?" Yujin asked, a bit concerned over her health.

"Yes I am Yujin, what are you going to do anyway?" Lazuli asked, trying to stay calm.

"Weeeeeeeeell…" Yujin said as he whispered the rest of his plan to Lazuli.

"You're going to do WHAT?!" Lazuli shouted.

"It's the only chance I've got, but that's why I'm not sure… I don't know how you'd feel about it." Yujin said.

"That's… surprisingly considerate from you…" Lazuli was pondering as she looked at Yujin who was biting on his lip thinking what to do.

"Heeeeellooooo? Are you going to do anything? I'm kind of waiting over here." Bridget said, seemingly not having paid any attention to Yujin as she was her on Smartphone.

"I can't let them, I mean her win this duel." Lazuli stated as she tried to regain her calm, she was still shivering but she seemed to have gained some courage again.

"Okay then, well I'm sorry for having to let you wait for this long Bridget, but I activate **Gem-Knight Fusion** once more! And I'll once again fuse my Garnet and Lazuli! Flames of truth become one with the green stone in a whirlpool of light to bring forth a new dazzling radiance! Fusion Summon! Appear! He who chases the enemy! **Gem-Knight Citrine!"** _ **(EARTH, Pyro, Level 7, 2200 ATK, 1950 DEF.)**_

"Hah, same thing, different end result. Let me guess, you're going to use Lazuli to add Garnet back to your hand, then banish her to add that fusion card back." Bridget said.

"You've got that right, I'll do just that!" Yujin said as he added back both cards.

Bridget chuckled a bit as she looked at her opponent.

"You know, I think Lazuli's quite a fitting card for you." She then stated.

"And why's that?" Yujin said, a bit suspicious.

"Both of you are stuck to be the supporting type, and lack a lot of power meaning you have to rely on others. Monsters like that are nothing but fodder in a deck, even in mine."

Yujin was grinding his teeth, he was really getting annoyed now. His partner was getting frustrated at this too, but tried to not show it.

"I'll Normal Summon **Gem-Knight Garnet.** " _ **(EARTH, Pyro, Level 4, 1900 ATK, 0 DEF.)**_

Garnet appeared on the field, smoke appeared from his palms as he opened and closed his fists, ready to fight.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Bridget calmly stated.

"I'm going to crash Citrine and Catastor!" Yujin furiously stated.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"What? But Catastor's effe-"

"If Citrine attacks you can't activate card effects, which means Catastor won't trigger! But since they have an equal amount of ATK.."

"They both get destroyed?!" Bridget was caught off guard, no way she ever saw this coming.

"Citrine attack Catastor with MADEIRA… FLAMING… MAGMA… SLASH!"

Bridget wanted to comment on the attack name (which she honestly thought was rather lame), but once she saw Citrine lunge forward at incredible speeds she had never seen before she was in awe. He prepared to strike Catastor with his magma sword while avoiding the laser shots by Catastor left and right. He was so fast it almost seemed as if he was teleporting, but before anyone knew it he stood right in front of the Ally of Justice. Catastor pierced through Citrine's armor with one of its legs which Citrine promptly sliced off before he tried to pull off the finishing blow, only for Catastor's head to make a strange ticking noise.

"It's going to blow!" Lazuli stated afraid of such an explosion.

Catastor exploded into multiple pieces cracking Citrine's armor as he fell down on his knees and got destroyed.

Lazuli could feel the pain transferred to her as she almost fell down. It normally doesn't hurt that much if at all in a duel, why does it suddenly do now? Yujin looked a bit worried at her and asked: "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?" he said softly.

"Yeah, it never hurts you know, it's just hologram with mass attacking another one." She replied back lying through her teeth. The pain was bearable, but it was the shock of such pain and that both confused and scared her.

"Look Lazuli, you don't have to lie. I know you've been acting weird the whole duel. I'm not a fool you know."

"Yujin…"

"I'm not sure why you're scared, I'm not sure why you're suddenly so hurt. And I feel bad for you, but you have to tell me. I know it's ironic that I'm saying this of all people, but if you don't tell me I don't know how I can help… and I want to help you Lazuli, we're partners."

Lazuli was silent for a second.

"Okay, I will tell you everything, but not now. I promise after the duel I will tell you."

"You better not lie." Yujin said.

"SERIOUSLY, HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE?! JUST ATTACK ALREADY!" Bridget shouted, obviously not having heard the conversation at all.

"If you so wish… Garnet, Flaming Iron Fist!"

Garnet jumped multiple feet up in the air charging up his fist as it was engulfed in flames before he dived forward like an eagle punching Bridget straight in the gut, causing her to flinch for a second before acting like everything was okay.

 **Bridget's LP: 6700-1900=4800 LP.**

"I'll set all the cards in my hand in my Spell & Trap Card Zone and end my turn." Yujin declared as he set some cards, including at the least 1 **Gem-Knight Fusion**.

 **Turn 6: Bridget**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 7800**

 **Hand: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Gem-Knight Garnet (1900 ATK)**

 **Spells/Traps: 2 face-down.**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Amount of turns left before Golden Sarcophagus is resolved: 1.**

"Don't get cocky just because you have 3000 more LP than me! I'll use Lakeside Lady's effect to banish her and Cannon to destroy one of those face-downs!" She made a finger gun and pretended to shoot one of the face-down cards as a small fireballs came from the top of her fingers destroyed the set card, revealing it to be **Gem-Knight Fusion**.

"Now, isn't that a shame. You hit the wrong card." Yujin said, a bit mockingly.

Bridget groaned. "You asked for it, I activate **Raigeki**!" As she claimed that a thunderstorm formed as lightning started to hit Garnet multiple times over as his gem cracked and he poofed off the battle field.

"Isn't that a bit of an overkill?"

"Hah, like it matters you're going to lose next turn anyway! You have _zero_ monsters and you can't fuse with just one!"

"She is right Yujin, how are we going to win this?"

"Trust me Lazuli, we can win." He stated.

"Now, I'll Normal Summon **Laval Magma Cannoneer.** " _ **(FIRE, Pyro, Level 4, 1700 ATK, 200 DEF)**_ _._

A large purple humanoid creature was spawned on the field, he was rather bulky and strapped with two huge cannons that must at the least weigh a ton.

"With his effect twice per turn I can discard 1 FIRE monster to inflict 500 damage. I discard **Flamvell Firedog** and **Laval Lancelord** for 1000 damage!" Magma Cannoneer charged both of its cannons as Bridget declared the effect.

"Oh no." Lazuli said, as fear started to take over once again.

"Now, Magma Cannoneer! Shoot! Blazing Dual Blast!" Magma Cannoneer shot from its left cannon as it hit Yujin causing him to physically wince.

 **Yujin LP: 7800-500=7300 LP.**

"A-are you okay?" Lazuli stated.

"I-I'm fi-" before Yujin could finish off his sentence the second blast shot with an equal amount of force surprising Yujin as he got blasted back and fell down.

 **Yujin LP: 7300-500=6800 LP.**

"Yujin!" Lazuli shouted from the top of her lungs. She rushed over as fast as she could to him.

"Please tell me you're fine." She kept saying as she started shaking him.

"I'm fine, I told you that Lazuli… Are you crying?" He noticed that Lazuli was tearing up.

"I was so concerned for you!" She stated as she embraced him.

"You can let go Lazuli, I won't be hurt so easily. I can take a cannon blast to the face… apparently."

"But what if-"

"Trust me, I'm stronger than I look." Yujin interjected as he stood back up rubbing his finger against his nose.

"Come on Bridget, was that all? I expected a bit more to be honest!" He then said to his opponent bragging as if the attack he faced was nothing.

"Magma Cannoneer attack him directly!" He shot his two cannons directly at Yujin, however despite doing more damage it seemed to be a considerable amount less power.

 **Yujin's LP: 6800-1700=5100 LP.**

"Huh… that didn't even hurt at all." Yujin said, only to notice Lazuli stood in front of him.

"Lazuli? What are you doing?" Yujin said hissing a bit at her.

"I.. I deflected those fireballs. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"But what if _you_ got hurt."

"I'm a Gem-Knight a warrior of honor who lives to protect, I'm just doing my job. I trust that you can survive, but… I have to do this."

"I don't understand why…" Yujin stated.

"As I said… I'll explain it after the duel, for now… please let me help you. I can't let you get hurt." As she said that she almost started tearing up again.

"Okay okay, just don't cry."

Lazuli nodded as she stood in front of Yujin in a defensive pose, she was shivering a bit, but she tried to stay calm, or as much as she could.

"How are you still standing up?" Bridget calmly stated

"Because… because.. my deck's protecting me, and as long as it trusts in me I'll trust in them to win."

"Ugh, I want to barf on how cliché that is."

 **Turn 7: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 face-down.**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 0**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Laval Cannoneer (1700 ATK)**

 **Amount of turns left before Golden Sarcophagus is resolved: 1/2.**

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this, Yujin." Bridget said in a mocking tone

"This random deck I bought off eBay has no pathetic cards!" Yujin declared as he drew his final card.

"So, what was it? Can you finish off the duel this turn?" Bridget said once again in a mocking tone.

"… I end my turn." Yujin said shocking Lazuli as he let his head down, showing signs of frustrations.

"Oh, thank you. This will be over quick. This is how the real life is Yujin, you can't go and hope for a miracle."

 **Turn 8: Bridget**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Spells/Traps: 1 face-down.**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Laval Cannoneer (1700 ATK)**

 **Amount of turns left before Golden Sarcophagus is resolved: 0**

 **Enter Standby Phase**

"I'll add **Rekindling** to my hand. I think you know what it does. I'll have to thank you for bringing such a duel Yujin, it was quite an interesting experience. You had fought oh so well, even now you still have the advantage in LP, but in the end I'm the one who will win. It's almost too bad you didn't topdeck. Now I will end this duel you excuse of an Obelisk Blue!"

Yujin kept silent as Bridget was mocking him, his head still hanged down low, Lazuli took a few quick glances to her partner but she didn't know what to say. The tension on the field was increasing with every second as Bridget was about to declare her victory.

 **Enter Main Phase 1**

"This is the end Yujin! Gaze upon the card which will defeat you! I'll activate **Rekindling**!" She said as she slammed the card down.

Yujin lifted his head which and stared Bridget straight in the face, a cocky smirk was formed on it as his face as he chuckled.

"Why are you smiling?!" She sneered at her opponent.

"You know, you keep talking about how you will show me what a duel really is, but you've already shown me what you believe it is. After all, a duel says more than words."

Bridget groaned at Yujin, she wanted to beat him and get over with it

"Don't think I'll give up yet by the way, as I will chain **Maxx C**!" Yujin declared as he discarded the card from his hand.

"What?! But that means-"

"Yep, each time you Special Summon I get to draw 1 card this turn!" Yujin drew a card as he gave a thumbs up to Lazuli who gave a sigh of relief as she realized he was fine.

"Then I'll just end my turn, you can't defeat me next turn anyway!" Bridget shouted, a slight tone of panic showing.

"Oh, but what if this card happens to be the one I need to defeat you? Not even 5 monsters might save you from that." Yujin started to play mindgames on her making her worry about the card Yujin had drawn.

"There's no way that would happen!"

"Or perhaps this face-down card is the perfect counter I need next turn." Yujin kept his head cool as he was messing with her.

"No, none of that is true! You're just trying to trick me!" She furious shouted as she stamped her foot on the ground.

"I guess that's your new card, huh?" Lazuli thought to herself.

"I'll Special Summon 2 **Laval Volcano Handmaiden, Laval Forest Sprite** and another **Flamvell Firedog!** " Upon the resolution 4 monsters had appeared, including the familiar dog.

Handmaiden's skin is made of cooled lava, giving her a dark complexion. She had long hair made of flames and wore a maid-like outfit which was predominantly blue-green, and adorned with silver medallions bearing the Laval symbol. Her burning underarm separated from her upper arm with silver bracelet on each side of the arm, and wore a choker similar to it.

Forest Sprite, resembled a far younger Handmaiden. Her outfit was similar in color but was a simple shirt with shorts, though she did wear a black hooded scarf. She wore a necklace also adorned with the same medallion as her sister, and like wore two bracelets on her upper arms and carried a small satchel next to her right hip.

Her sister Forest Sprite had a very similar, albeit shorter and less developed body as she seemed to resemble a pre-teen girl. Her outfit was also rather similar, but instead of a dress it came with shorts that like her sister were made of rocks and of the same color. She wore necklace and has 2 bracelets on either side of her arm on the upper part of her upper arm. She also had black hooded scarf with the Laval medallion on it and carried a small satchel next to her right hip.

Lazuli gazed upon the two Laval sisters (or 3, since there were 2 Handmaidens), and a familiar shiver went down her spine. She wasn't as afraid as she was earlier, and she was trying her best to stay as brave as possible, even if it means dealing with the worst of the Laval.

"I'll tune my level 1 Handmaiden with my level 4 Firedog to Synchro Summon **Tech Genus Hyper Librarian!"** _**(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 5, 2400 ATK, 1800 DEF.)**_

A monster Yujin had seen a few days ago appeared before Yujin, though this was the first time he'd seen it used against him.

"If you're going to draw cards I might as well." Bridget said as Yujin drew another card.

"Next up I'll be tuning my level 1 Handmaiden and my level 2 Cannoneer! The ancient tune sings through the twin blades and sets fear into the enemy's soul! Synchro Summon! Come forth! **Laval Dual Slasher**!" _**(FIRE, Warriors, Level 5, 2400 ATK, 200 DEF.)**_

A massive hulking red and black warrior appeared on the battlefield with two huge blades attached to his arms. His arms, his head and his entire front was covered in the medallions that showed the Laval emblem.

"DRAW!" Both players declared as gusts of wind formed around them when they drew.

"What the heck was up with that gust of wind?! They just drew a card, where did that surge of power come from?!" Lazuli said in utter confused as she almost fell down from the strong winds.

"I'll summon **Laval Warrior** , but no worries about him as I'll tune this level 4 with my level 2 Forrest Sprite! "The offering is consumed by a raging blaze that sets loose the supreme ruler! Synchro Summon! A force without peer! **Laval the Greater**!" _ **(FIRE, Warrior, Level 6, 2400 ATK, 800 DEF.)**_

From an inferno of blue flames a towering creature spawned, whose size rivaled Zirconia. His front and side engraved with the Laval medallion and wore both a bracelet and an ankle bracelet. Above his rock hard abs a chain made of medallions covered his neck. He glared directly at Lazuli with his glowing red eyes that stood out from the blue flames covering his body.

Lazuli was scared, the being was incredibly imposing and unlike any of the other Lavals, but she wasn't going to move an inch. She promised she'd protect her partner, and she wouldn't go back on it for any reason.

"Please tell me you have a way to defeat her." She thought to herself.

"Okay, T.G Hyper Librarian, Laval and Forest Sprite all get activated. I'll resolve Forest Sprite first. When she's send to the Graveyard, this turn all my Lavals gain 200 ATK for each Laval in the Graveyard, and I have 7!"

"That means, a 1400 ATK boost!" Lazuli said, shocked.

 **Laval the Greater (ATK:2400+1400=3800 ATK.)**

 **Laval Dual Slasher (ATK:2400+1400=3800 ATK.)**

Flames covered both monsters as they grew in size from the boost. Making them look more intimidating.

"Now, I'll draw 1 card from Librarian, however due to the Greater, when he's summoned I have to discard 1 card as well." Bridget drew a card, then discarded a **Reinforcement of the Army** , a card she expected to not need anymore

"I'll draw 1 card too." Yujin said in response.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now, I'll finish you off! Laval Dual Slasher you go first!" Upon her attack declaration the flaming monster rushed in a mad frenzy towards Yujin preparing to slice him.

"Not so fast! I'll activate the trap card **Mirror Force**!" Yujin revealed his face-down, the iconic trap card that has been a popular card for years.

Bridget gasped as she knew what would happen while Lazuli squealed in happiness.

"Now, with this card if you declare an attack I can destroy all monsters you control!" As Yujin said a protective barrier surrounded him and Lazuli which absorbed the attack from Dual Slasher before blowing it back at him and all her monsters.

"I'll use Greater's effect, by banishing 1 **Laval** he protect himself from destruction!" Bridget ejected Forest Sprite from her Graveyard as she forcefully had to destroy two of her cards.

"Urgh, Greater attack him directly!" Bridget said. The enormous monsters covered himself in his blue flames which he then promptly shot forward causing a blazing inferno to overtake the battlefield.

Yujin took a defensive stance, but before the flames could hit him another barrier surrounded him, this wasn't however from a trap card. It appeared to be Lazuli.

"I told you I'd protect you." She said as she intercepted the blow, however as much as she tried the force was more than she could handle as she got blown away. The pain, while bearable was enough for her to make it impossible to stand up.

 **Yujin's LP: 5100-3800=1300 LP.**

"Guess I'm not so useless after all, huh." She said. Yujin helped her stand back up as he smiled at her.

"Go get her Yujin."

"I'll end my turn, Greater's attack returns to normal." She said with a slight hint of panic in her voice

 **Laval the Greater (ATK:3800-1400=2400 ATK.)**

 **Turn 9: Yujin**

 **Yujin**

 **Life Points: 1300**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Bridget**

 **Life Points: 4800**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:**

 **Monsters: Laval the Greater (ATK: 2400)**

"There's no way, there's no way this should've happened. It doesn't matter now, does it. Because there's one thing for certain, the chance those cards are the perfect way to win is zero you hear me, ZERO!" Bridget shouted, forcefully trying to convince herself she can still win.

Yujin started laughing annoying his opponent.

"What's so funny?" She was clearly annoyed.

"Just how similar we are, yet different" Yujin said, trying to suppress the rest of the laughter.

"How are we in any way similar?

"Let's look at our decks first. We both have a deck of warrior monsters made of rocks, however none of our main cards are Rock-Type. We both clearly take advantage of the Graveyard and banishing out cards. And most importantly, we both rely on our weaker monsters to support our stronger ones. And as for us, we both have the same amount of fury and passion for this game. We're quite similar, however… It's how we treat our decks and the game where we differ."

"What do you mean with that?"

"For you this game is war, a thing you must win. For me, this game is my way to enjoy myself. A way to be free, and perhaps a way to connect with others I'd normally avoid. It's great for someone as anti-social as me as it allows me to have a hobby I can enjoy with others and not feel excluded from society."

Lazuli smirked at her partner as she was feeling rather proud to be his Duel Spirit now.

"As for our decks… For you they're fodder, minions or perhaps even slaves. You don't care what would happen to them. For me however? They're comrades, the people that always stay be my side and help me. Without them I wouldn't get to this point, thus I treat my cards with the most upmost respect."

"Hah, what a bunch of baloney." She said, clearly thinking Yujin must've gone insane at this point.

"All I heard a bunch of Chuunibyou crap." She then said.

"I guess this is what they call the pot calling the cattle black huh?" Lazuli murmured.

"Well then my lady, how about I show you what my supposedly weak monsters can do?" He replied mockingly

What do you mean?" Bridget was in total shock.

"Let's not forget to banish Citrine to add **Gem-Knight Fusion.** Now I'll fuse Garnet and Obsidian to Fusion Summon **Gem-Knight Ruby** back to the field!" _**(EARTH, Pyro, Level 6, ATK: 2500, DEF: 1300.)**_

"And with Obsidian I can Special Summon Garnet back to the field! But that won't matter as I'll use Ruby to absorb him!"

 **Gem-Knight Ruby (ATK: 2500+1900=4400)**

"You dare to comment how I'm supposed to be barbaric while you use such tactics that kill of your own allies?!" Bridget was losing her calm very quickly.

"You've got it all wrong Bridget, this isn't a permanent death. This is the very concept of the Gem-Knight themselves."

"The… very concept of the Gem-Knight themselves?"

"Allies who combine their bodies and soul to fight as one. This effect isn't a bloody murder, it's just another form of fusion on spiritual level. The Gem-Knights work together as one and will continue to do so if it's to protect their allies! Therefore I will declare this effect as Spirit Union!"

"Next I'll add back my Fusion by banishing Obsidian and fuse him and a Sardonyx in my hand to summon **Gem-Knight Topaz**!" _**(EARTH, Thunder, Level 6, ATK 1800, DEF: 1800)**_

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Ruby attack Laval the Greater! SUNRISE FLAMING INFERNO SLASH!"

Ruby jumped in the air upon the attack declaration deflecting the flames shot by Laval the Greater as if they were nothing with his scythe. The scythe struck Greater, but he blocked it with his arms and prepared to strike Ruby straight in his face with his flames, but Ruby used his scythe as a leverage as he jumped straight back in the air and dived forward with it again. Greater prepared to block the attack once again but he could his flames leaving his body as Ruby was absorbing them to power himself up even further not allowing the giant behemoth to have any power to protect himself. In one fell swoop the creature was sliced in half as he got destroyed.

 **Bridget's LP: 4800-2000=2800**

"And Topaz can attack twice so this battle is over." Yujin said.

"I get it, I concede." Bridget declared as she gave up.

 **WINNER: Yujin**

Bridget cleared her Duel Disk and moved her deck back in her deck box as she walked over to Yujin, looking surprisingly happy for someone shaking with paranoia and fear a few minutes ago.

"Wow you were great Yujin." She said complimenting him.

"Really? Thanks, you're not bad either."

"I mean really, look at that skill, topdecking the perfect card you needed to win. Who would've thought?" She then continued, rather sardonically.

"Aaaand that's what I should've seen coming." Yujin then said.

"Say, despite knowing each other's names… we never introduced ourselves, have we? I'm Bridget Kuznetsov, 16 years old and from Russia."

"I'm Yujin Shojiki, 16 years old and from Japan. Though I have to ask, how do you know my name?"

"You simply stand out, a face like yours, or well more like a hairdo like yours can't really be forgotten. Well, I'll see you around… Perhaps we can have a rematch at a later date." She said as she walked away.

"You still haven't explained where you've heard my name!" He shouted as she was almost out of his sight.

"A little birdie told me, but no worries. We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when. But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day. For we're related in more ways than you think." She giggled a bit as she left.

"I wonder what she meant with that…" Yujin said as he scratched his head.

"No idea…" Lazuli thought, feeling a lot better all of a sudden.

"So, I believe you have to explain some things to me now Lazuli."

"Yes.. Yes I do."


	11. Chapter 11: Story of my life

Before I want to start the chapter I want to say a few things. First of all, thank you to all the people who've read my story. I've gotten over 2000 views, and am very happy about that. And yes, I'm sorry for another hiatus. This particular chapter has been revised well over 20 times, which caused me to take longer than usual. Furthermore I really want to talk about 2 more Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfictions I feel need some love.

The first one I want to mention is A Dimension Divided by Wyncrer the Sage. It shows what would happen in an alternate timeline to the DM-5Ds storyline, where the characters from each show coexisted in a world that was torn apart by war. It contains all new archetypes, storylines and characters, as well as further character development for returning characters such as the three protagonists. This is done through Tanion's story as he journeys through their war ravaged world.

You can read it here: s/11920023/1/A-Dimension-Divided

The second one is Phase War - Heaven and Earth by narrat0r also known as Rank10YGO on Youtube which focuses completely on new characters, though using existing cards. It follows a boy named Axel who escapes from a city in the skies known as Aether to explore the land below. See it as a reverse Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It has an unique setting and great word building, and best of all uses the game we all know and love in an entirely unique way.

You can read it here s/11582265/1/Phase-War-Heaven-and-Earth

Anyway, thanks for the views and please enjoy these as well, or at the least give them a chance. Now, back to the story.

Only a few minutes passed since Yujin's duel, which he only narrowly won. During the ordeal Lazuli was rather nervous, but she has considerably calmed down by now. The pair decided that they needed some privacy, thus decided to return to Yujin's dorm as they knew Zephyr would be gone for a long time. It was a quiet walk, neither speaking to each until Yujin opened the door.

"We're alone. Time for you to tell the full story." His voice had a rather serious tone, seeming a lot less lax all of a sudden.

Lazuli chuckled a bit nervously, hoping the mood would be brightened if she acted more calm.

"I have to say I'm surprised. How long have we been partners, yet only now you take interest in my origins?"

"Should be like 6 months, though it feels longer. And yes, perhaps I should've shown more interest as Duel Spirits aren't a thing you see every day. I mean, until then I thought they were nothing but rumors. So, when I saw you it was a shock."

"Well I did scare you." Lazuli was trying to break the ice.

"Yeah, I almost had a concussion due to that. Thanks Lazuli." He said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." She replied rather snarky.

"Anyway, it's story time." Yujin tried to change back to the original topic.

Lazuli took a deep breath as her cheerful demeanor took a more serious one instead.

"I'll start at the beginning. However, my knowledge about it is rather limited, so forgive me for that."

"No worries Lazuli. I just want to know the basics." Yujin was taken a bit back by how she acted now.

"A long time ago, before I and perhaps the other Gem-Knights were born there was a place where some of the monsters of your cardgame lived. Our planet was called the Terminal, or Termina among the common folk. I have no idea if the other monsters are beings who live on a different realm, are simply just cards or are perhaps residents of Termina as well, I do however think that it's no coincidence that some of us appear as cards in this game."

"A bit hard to swallow, but I believe you. So, that makes you an alien then technically right? And here I thought you were the spirit of a cosplayer." Yujin said, jokingly. His sudden serious tone disappeared as sudden as it had appeared.

"Wow, thanks Yujin." She replied back, rolling her eyes.

"Oh come on, it was a little funny."

"Not really. Anyway, where was I? Oh right, Termina. As I said, it's like earth. And like this planet it has wars. They had no idea if would get better or worse, yet their fights went on."

"It went better… right?"

"Oh no, it was the opposite. It got worse when they appeared."

"Who's they?"

"I'm getting to that Yujin, stop interrupting me!"

"Well eeeexcuuuse me, princess!"

"So, a meteorite crashed on Termina, and from it alien invaders spawned. They had bodies that could barely be described, but were highly adaptive and thus ever-changing. The four strongest clans decided to team up to stop the invaders leading to the creation of the Ally of Justice and the Genex."

"So, who are the four clans?" Yujin pondered.

"The Flamvell, warriors of flames who were one of the first to counterattack in invasion. They were proud warriors, however much else about them is unknown."

"Okay, so the deck that has the firedog and the deity."

"The Mist Valley, named after their place of origin. A clan people who used mysticism to tame both birds and the wind itself. They were however rather brutal and conquered many other tribes, often forcing them to become servants and adopt their way of life in mysticism and their religion."

"That one deck who only has like 2 decent cards which are abused in other decks."

"The X-Sabers. Proud warriors led by their leader Gottoms, they were said to have been noble warriors, however once again not much is known about them, most of their history has been faded away like many others."

"Oh wow, an archetype that was actually good once."

"And perhaps the strongest one of them all, the Ice Barriers."

"Hooooooold on. ICE BARRIERS?!" Yujin screamed in utter shock.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry, I just didn't expect anybody to unironically say Ice Barriers are the strongest ever."

"Yeah, but their Synchro's are good."

"Which is all they have going for them, and other decks abused them more than they ever did."

"Okay, got a point there. In the game they suck more than a kid does on a lollipop. On Termina however they were a force to be reckoned with. And thus they joined the others, for perhaps with their help the invaders could be stopped. They started with releasing one of the three sealed dragons, ancient beasts with incredible power that was hard to tame. However, with the collective effort of their strongest priests they released the dragon knows as Brionac."

Yujin was listening closely to Lazuli, simply nodding as he was wondering what happened next.

"They managed to keep the invaders at bay. However these invaders, while thought to be mindless at first had showed sophisticated logic and clear ranks. While showing some individual thought, they were also like a hive mind."

"That sounds… confusing and entirely contradictory too."

"Sorry, it's the only way I can describe it. Anyway, the tribes then found an unknown substance from the meteor the invaders arrived on. It was used as a power source for their machines, enhancing their capabilities further than one ever expected. Thus their goal went from defeating them, to catching them to power their machines further."

"And how did it go?" Yujin said, curiosity increasing more and more.

"It went well, at first. The tribe known as the Mist Valley did not agree on this matter of usage and in rage their leader Thunder Lord destroyed Catastor, their strongest Ally of Justice back then. And so with the loss of Catastor the Genex had to be adapted to be more combat ready."

"Wow, that almost makes me feel bad for destroying it in our duel. _Almost_."

"And as you might guess by now, it got worse. From deeper on the earth's crust a race of demonic deities had awakened. They were called the Fabled, because as their name suggests they were thought to be mere myths."

"Ah yeah, I've heard of them. Never quite saw them in action."

"That may be for the best… However, luckily a new ally had shown up. The Jurrac, dinosaurs granted with the power of the very flames of the earth."

"… Flaming dinosaurs, not even going to bother making fun of that."

"Every day was chaos, the invaders never stopped, and every time the battle continued the Fableds appeared attacking whoever they pleased using hit and run tactics. The Genex continued to become more combat heavy, eventually becoming the R-Genex. The Ice Barriers decided to release Gungnir, whose breath was said to have frozen thousands of the invaders."

"That's a lot of things that happened."

"Indeed. Now as you know, the Mist Valley had left."

"Yes, because they were unreasonable and salty."

"Well as one could expect, it seemed that without the help of their previous comrades they were doomed. Until the Dragunity showed up, a clan of legendary dragon riders. They and their dragons had been living in the Dragon Ravine, a place that was only ever mentioned in legends. It was said that when in dragon and tamer were in union that both their mind and soul were one. With their help the Mist Valley got to live another day"

"Oh man, that sounds awesome, what else did they end up doing?" Yujin was excited to hear the rest.

"… Actually, I have no idea what else they did. From all the data I could gather whatever happened to the Mist Valley and Dragunity seems to have stopped after this. Same for the X-Sabers."

"Wow, so the only two good archetypes pretty much disappeared at that point? That… feels rather suspicious."

"Yeah I agree, and gathering more information on this subject is rather hard due to a certain event I'll have to mention later on."

"Well what are you waiting for, go on!" Yujin's curiosity had grown ever more, not knowing what events could possibly transpire next.

"But as the invaders seemed to finally been beat, as less and less spawned and no major adaptations had been happening to their physique time and space itself started tearing apart, a gigantic creature appeared. It was said to be the size and shape of a small moon with a skull-esque face on its round body."

"… So wait just a second. The worlds called Termina AND there's a moon with a face? Are you sure you're not ripping off Majora's Mask?"

"It's not an actual moon, it just looks like a moon… a very slimy moon. Upon its appearance it ended up swallowing and absorbing all other invaders, and it was said to not have been against their will. It was likely the creator of the creatures, they were mere spawns it had created, and without any mercy it dragged them back to where they came from. To defeat the creature they had to quickly create and release their strongest Ally of Justice, Decisive Armor. The battle was said to have quickly ended once he was released, thus defeating the threatening invaders once and for all."

"And then the Fabled attacked?" Yujin felt he knew where this was heading to.

Lazuli sighed as she nodded, continuing on with the story.

"The Fabled decided now was their time to strike. Thus to combat these foes the newly created R-Genex and Ally of Justice worked together to create a new generation of machines, the Genex-Ally."

"So wait, they were sentient? Also, this does explain why the archetype has so many archetypes. And here I thought Konami had no clue what to do with them."

"I mean, seeing how they butchered the Ice Barriers, I'd say it's both. As for the sentient part, I don't quite know. From the information I have it is implied they had some form of sentience, but it could've just meant that the tribes decided to combine their technology." She replied back.

"Interesting, I guess it is likely they were sentient, your world does seem surprisingly advanced. And you guys have magical abilities and such as well."

"Well, actually our technology has mostly faded away due to the same event I have been trying to get to, if it wasn't for someone interrupting me all the time." She had some clear annoyance showing through her speech.

"Okay, I get it. Go on."

"Yes, but I have to warn you, the story only seems to get vaguer from here on out. More and more details have been left out, so I only know the very basics now."

"As I said. Go on." Yujin's face turned serious for a second as he spoke this line, but assumed a more relaxed facial expression quickly afterwards.

"During the invasion the Fabled attacked with their animals which were called The Fabled."

"Wait, but isn't that the exact same thing?"

"No no no, the Fabled are just Fabled. Their animal partners are **THE** Fabled. See, the the makes a huge difference. Now, as for the story. They decided to attack the tribes, mostly causing suffering to the Jurrac however. Out of sheer desperation they decided the only thing that was left for them to do to defeat the Fabled was to combine their bodies in the form of a giant meteorite and smash right into the land of where the Fabled resided. Their bodies died upon impact, but the Fabled were devastated. Their land was on fire, and many had passed away."

"Poor flaming dinosaurs. It seemed they were the meteorite that made them go extinct all along."

"However, this was not the end of their souls." As Lazuli said this Yujin's curiosity spiked, as he raised his eyebrow.

"From the ashes of the burning land and their body they had awakened The God of Ancient Flames… or **Ancient Flamvell Deity**."

Yujin's mouth fell open, this was one twist he had not seen coming.

"It was said that the wishes of the Jurrac and perhaps some influence of the Flamvell that their deity has risen once again. While their souls became one with this god, from the ashes of their body new creatures were born. The Neo Flamvell is what they were called, with them and this ancient being the Fabled were quickly swept from the realm of mortal men."

"So, did they get sealed again? Or did they die?"

"The vague wording implies they got sealed, so I always assumed that."

"Okay, seems fair. Cool story about the first war Lazuli, thanks for that whole thing." Yujin stood up and stretched a bit.

"Who says I was done?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Sit down Yujin. This story hasn't ended yet." As she said that in a calm, but commanding tone Yujin decided to sit back down again.

"During all of this the major priests of the Ice Barrier had decided to release their final dragon to stop the Fabled, not knowing what the Jurrac tribe had done."

"The final dragon, wait you wouldn't perhaps mean?!" Yujin gasped, realizing that nothing good could possibly happen now.

" It was supposed to have worked, but it seemed that some had refused to help release him… Yet despite this they released him… **Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier**." As Lazuli spoke that name chills ran down Yujin's spine as he was shivering, thinking back of the behemoth of a creature he had witnessed a few weeks prior.

"Their apparent medium had tried to calm the beast down and contact it, hoping for its assistance. However, the creature in a fit of rage seemed to have been untamable. It destroyed and froze everything in its path, destroying the Ice Barrier tribe. Now, without anything holding the creature down it almost destroyed the entire planet. This catastrophe couldn't be stopped by anyone, not even the Flamvell and their newly revived deity came close to matching its power. Trishula in this rampaging madness managed to freeze the entire planet."

"IT FROZE THE ENTIRE PLANET?! It managed to overpower gods too? What even is that creature? And how did it stop?!"

"I-I don't know, it seemed after freezing the entire planet he and his brothers had disappeared, but they had left a legacy."

"Well, what happened next?" Yujin was visibly shaking at the idea of Trishula freezing the entire planet and somehow dissapearing. Did it calm down? Did something else kill it? Or was it something even worse?

"During the catastrophe many of the survivors had tried to live, and 12 years since the first war have passed. Many tribes now dead, including the original ones I've mentioned. No records of them currently living exists. Although, a tribe that has some relation with the Mist Valley, perhaps one of the conquered tribes had survived. They are currently living on the same location as the Mist Valley once lived."

"Yes, but what about you and the Laval?"

"Yes, my tribe and them. You see, I have no idea of our or their origins."

"… You don't know how you were born?"

"I just kind of… came to life. It seems me and another Gem-Knight who I'll mention a bit later on were the last to be born. Both of us still children compared to these adults. Albeit the only females. Which had caused quite the surprise. I remember their reactions, none of them quite sure what to say. They didn't seem to have expected two Gem-Knights, much less young and might I add cute girls."

"Eh, the cute part is debatable. So uh… you and the other girl kind of just came into existence?"

"Yeah, and it seemed the others were simply created like that. A random poof and you were born from the earth. Though I feel some of them know more than they are willing to tell to me. Anyway, as for our tribe. We are a clan of chivalrous knights of honor. We only fight to protect and help people. And only if needed."

"Lawful Good, got it."

"They're all pretty cool people. There's Amber, who rushes over to anybody daring to harm his comrades. Iolite is a big old grumpy giant, while Sardonyx is a cheery friendly giant." Lazuli smiled as old memories of them resurged.

"Go on please. I'm interested."

"Obsidian is a big daydreamer and always seems so serious and can come off as rude, but he means no harm to us. He has helped and trained me quite often." Lazuli took a mock defensive stance and did a roundhouse kick, almost kicking over a lamp.

"Please don't do that again, but go on."

"Then there's the Garnet, Topaz and Sapphire. These guy have the strongest magical capabilities and prefer to not use weapons. Garnet's an actions first type of guy, Sapphire is always throwing himself in the front of battle to protect everyone. The two of them always seem to argue, which is where Topaz steps in, always somehow keeping their bond so tight."

"Now that's an interesting relationship to see."

"Alexandrite, calm and sophisticated and never seen alone in a fight. And Emerald, he's like a cool and protective big brother. They are the most close people with our Leader, Crystal. He's everything everyone of us wants to be. Brave, courageous and full of willpower. He always pulls as through and hard and dark times. And his fusion ability is beyond that of any of us. The only one close to him is Emerald, and even he is no match for him."

"Total. Badass."

"I agree, he's also the only thing I have close to a father-type figure." Lazuli said sighing, though it seemed to be a happy sigh.

"Say, aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Who? Well there's Armadillo, always lets me ride on him. Elephant doesn't though, and there's Turtle who loves to help us. Oh also Merchant, but he's a bit… eccentric."

"Your friend perhaps?"

"Haha, I know. I was just messing with you."

Yujin rolled his eyes. "Just tell me about your secret BFF already goddamnit."

"Ah, my best friend in the whole entire universe, Lapis. We were 'born' on the same land, with no idea how. However ever since our creation we were together. She was calm and caring, while I am much more outgoing, though still caring. She was much more introverted, but despite our many differences we stayed close. We were just similar and just different enough that our relationship could exist. We never got into a fight, though we have argued at times. We trained together, read together, ate together and even slept in together."

"First of all: ouch, thanks for hurting my feelings. Second of all: I get it, Lapis Lazuli. Third of all: That last part might need some better phrasing."

"What, I don't get it. We simply slept together. Like we simply shared the same blanket."

"Oh poor naive Lazuli. So, Lavals next?"

"Right, just as we seemed to have been created by the land so were they. They were born however in the Laval Zone, a place constantly on fire and theorized by some to have been where the Neo Flamvell were born. It is unknown however if this is true and if it is, what relation they share with the Flamvell. The earth their body is made off is always on fire and they are born with an unnatural thirst for violence. They want to fight, for the sake of fighting. They always talk about the glory of war, but all they do is create fear and destruction. Many of our comrades died to them as since their very creation they wanted us dead. Perhaps this was fate, as we both seem to share similar origins. The cause is unknown, but the effect is still present…"

"Okay, that's depressing… my final question. How did you end up here?"

"That Yujin is a simple question with a complicated answer. It all started on night, I was having a nightmare. I saw my village burning, flames appearing everywhere. I thought it was an ambush of the Laval, I was unprepared my training insufficient for actual combat most of the time, and with no other Gem-Knights in sight to fuse with I felt an ever increasing sense of dread and doom… but then I heard it."

"Heard what?"

"A voice calling out my name, I can't remember what it sounds like anymore… but it was a vague whisper that kept increasing in volume till I could clearly hear it. It wasn't a yell, no, the tone was pleasant and soothing. In the same vein a baby would be soothed while listening to the voice of their mother while suckling."

"Oddly specific, but go on."

"The voice told me this was the faith that laid upon my tribe if this fighting were to continue. It asked me if I wanted to grow in power. Of course I was wary that this could've been a trap, or the power could've come with a curse or corrupted me so I asked to it, no I demanded it to tell me if it was trying to trick me. The voice laughed and replied it wasn't. It wanted to help me grow, it said I possessed hidden potential. It then said I had to make a choice quick, it wasn't going to stay for long… I then noticed the flames getting closer and closer, until out of panic I shouted that I'd agree. The voice laughed and the flames disappeared. And when I woke up, I was inside of the deck you ordered online."

"That's weird, so the deck I bought off eBay was from a mysterious voice you don't know the origin off?"

"Perhaps, that or I was transferred inside of a random deck."

"So… does that mean you can't return home?" Yujin felt a bit bad, hoping it wasn't true

Lazuli giggled. "No of course I can, what do you think happens when I return to my deck? It seems I can travel between the realms of Termina and Earth, but on Earth my body assumes the form of a spirit. It's a quite interesting concept, which I'd really wish to investigate."

"Wait, don't the others notice you're gone?"

"Seems not, time doesn't seem to have passed at all, if by much when I'm gone. Though I mostly go there while you're asleep or when I don't feel like helping you in class. That or if I feel like sleeping some more I enter or exit the deck and sleep in the other realm."

"Well that's a fuckton of information to handle for me."

"Yep, well that's the full story. I hope you enjoyed it."

"Yeah, it leaves me with some questions, but at the least I know enough now. I do wonder if we perhaps will meet the other tribes…"

"Perhaps." Lazuli shrugged, though it felt a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders as she did.

Their happy moment didn't last for long though as some loud banging was on their door.

"Did Zephyr forget his keys… again?" Yujin sighed as he opened the door to see a panicking Zephyr, something he had never seen him done before.

"Yujin, you've got to see this!" He repeated multiple times as he grabbed Yujin by his arm.

"Zeph, calm down. What happened?"

"Lucian got into trouble with another student somehow and now they're dueling!"

"Well that's not good…"

"And worst part is that they're doing an Ante Duel!"

"Wait, doesn't that mean that if he loses he loses a card?"

"No, this is worse. They bet their entire deck!"

"SORRY, WHAT NOW?!"

"Yeah, we have to hurry. You don't want to miss it!" Yujin simply nodded as a reply and closed the door running after Zephyr.

Once again, thanks everyone for reading. Sorry for the hiatus, but this chapter has gotten so many revisions I've almost gone insane.


	12. Chapter 12:It's a kind of magic

It seemed the day couldn't end yet, as after all the events that happened today, another popped up. Without context on the situation Yujin rushed towards the Duel Arena, where Lucian was having an _ante duel_. There was heavy rain, but that didn't stop Yujin from going. Though he forgot to bring a coat, Zephyr had given him an umbrella.

After a few minutes they arrived, witnessing Lucian and Sean surrounded by multiple Ras and Slifers, Lucian arguing with one of them. Sean quietly standing there.

"We can avoid conflict if you give it back." Lucian said to a Ra Yellow. The student pushed up his greasy, stained glasses. He was quite a bit shorter than Lucian and even Yujin.

The Ra spoke in a calm tone. "Dunno, I found it fair and square. I don't see why I should return it. If you want it, you have to earn it."

"Fine, I'll accept the challenge. I'll set in my entire deck." Lucian sighed, wishing he could've just avoided this.

"Well, you know what I offer," the unknown duelist said, smirking.

The students surrounding them started to whisper comments ranging from, "Man, there's no way that Slifer can win," to,"Shouldn't we report this to a teacher?" to, "Shut up Bob."

"Lucian, what's going on?" Yujin interrupted the whispering duelists.

Lucian jumped up as he noticed Yujin standing behind him and staring at him angrily "W-W-What are you doing here?"

"Zephyr told me about it. More importantly though, what are _you_ doing here _?_ "

"W-w-well me and Sean were in the library and we wanted to have a little break. Then we realized Sean left his deckbox in class, so we decided to go back and find it..."

"But I had already found the box," the Ra interrupted, "and you know what they say: finders keepers."

"And a student had told us she saw him walking away with Sean's deck to the arena. Which is where we found him. Hence why we're here. And he only wants to give it back if—"

"You win an ante duel?" Yujin said. "Lucian, we both know those are not allowed. You could get in serious trouble; just tell a teacher."

"Let's be honest, they're more likely to trust him than me. I've got no proof it's Sean's deck."

Yujin looked at Sean. "Do you think it's a good idea? I mean it's your deck."

"I agree with Lucian, there's no way the teachers would believe us. At the least with this we have a decent chance," Sean said, avoiding eye contact.

"Is there any way I can talk you guys out of this?"

"Nope," the duo of Sifers said in unison.

"Can we get to the duel already?" Lucian's opponent was angrily tapping his foot.

"Yeah, sure. I'm sorry ehm..." Lucian said as he placed his deck in the Duel Disk, realizing he doesn't even know his opponent's name.

"You don't know his name?" Zephyr whispered in Lucian's ear.

"I think I saw him in class, but I don't know his name." He whispered back.

"It's Harold Copper, can we finally start now? Making your opponent wait is rather rude." Harold put his own deck inside of the Duel Disk. He glanced at students around him, who looked incredibly bored as they were talking for so long instead of actually dueling.

"Okay I'll flip a coin. If heads you start, if tails I start." Harold grabbed a coin from his pocket as Lucian nodded. He flipped the coin as it landed on…

"Heads, you start." Harold was smirking again, though it felt a tad bit more creepier.

"R-ready." Lucian stuttered, a habit he exhibits during stress.

"Set." Harold calmly replied back.

"Duel!" The surrounding students exclaimed in excitement as the duel finally started.

 **Turn 1: Lucian**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Draw Phase, skipped. Proceed to main phase.**

"I'll Normal Summon **Vylon Hept** _ **(LIGHT, Fairy, Level 4, ATK: 1800, DEF: 800.)**_. Your move."

"That's it?" Yujin was confused.

"I don't see why he doesn't do anything." Lazuli replied, who was still here the whole time, though Yujin kind of forgot. There were so many people around that he kind of just… forgot.

"I assume he either didn't draw a tuner or is trying to bait the opponent out so he can punish them next turn." Zephyr stated in a matter of fact way.

"That could be a possibility." Yujin said, surprised a bit on Zephyr's comment giving a confused glance to Lazuli. She simply shrugged though.

"Eh, he has to be blue for some reason right. Money can only get you this far."

 **Turn 2: Harold**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: Vylon Hept (1800 ATK)**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 6**

 **Field: N/A**

"Hah, now it's my turn. And I'll start with Normal Summoning **Magical Exemplar!** _ **(EARTH, Spellcaster, Level 4, ATK:1700, DEF:1400)**_

A thin pale woman with dark grey hair appeared wearing a long flowing green robe covering everything below the neck, except her shoulders and hands. The middle of the robe was a far darker shade of green, but had undecipherable glowing green runes on it. Golden jewelry on her neck and forehead were adorned with rubies, furthermore she wore a golden bracelet on each wrist, connected together with a small golden chain. She also wore a belt with a lighter shade of green with a golden symbol resembling the eye of Wdjat in the middle.

"Next up I'll activate the Field Spell **Magical Citadel of Endymion!** " An enormous citadel sprouted behind Harold, in the middle of it all was a giant tower taller than any other building and from the top of it a magical barrier was produced, which was visible, but only from the mystical words written in the same unknown language as on Exemplar's clothing.

"When a Spell is activated Exemplar gains 2 _Spell Counters_. And with her effect I can remove said Spell Counters to summon a monster whose Level is equal to the ones I've removed, say hello to **Night's End Sorcerer**!" _**(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 2, Tuner, ATK: 1300, DEF:400)**_.

From the Citadel's top a monster jumped down, a small human boy with blonde hair resembling rabbit ears. He wore poorly sewn together clothing and a tattered cape. While his hair blocked one of his eyes his facial expression was stoic and he seemed to have a dark and mysterious aura compared to Exemplar whose was more serene. His only other possession was the peculiar scythe he held. The blade was very clear and seemed to be made from a glass-like object though had a metal tip. The other side held had a small blue crystal and a small lantern attached with a string and the handle kind of looked like it was a bone with a metallic end that had a small charm with a similar blue crystal in the middle.

"But they won't stay around for long! Arcane winds that howl through the dying night, converge in roaring splendor! Synchro Summon! Come! Tempest Magician!" _**(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 6, ATK:2200, DEF: 1400.)**_

Night's End's body transformed into green circles around Exemplar, however as Lucian expected a new monster it appeared to have been Exemplar in a new outfit. The cloak had much darker colors, the upper part a dark blue, the lower part black and a dark blue-green with a hint of grey and red. The belt she wore was a dull bronze. The chains around her arms had broken, but what stood out most was the fact she carried Night's End Sorcerer's Scythe and the look on her face. The soothingly calm expression she had only a while ago had changed into a menacing scowl only accentuated by her suddenly wearing eyeshadow.

"Didn't know Synchro Summoning gives make-up." Yujin joked.

"I'm more confused on the fact she got that scythe." Lazuli replied.

"Next up, I'll activate the Spell Card: Spell Power Grasp. I can target 1 card I control that I can put a Spell Counter on and put one on it. Therefore I'll target my Citadel, and with its effect I gain another Spell Counter. Also I can add another Spell Power Grasp, unfortunately the card has a once per turn restriction." **(+2 Spell Counters)**

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now Tempest Magician attack his Vylon Hept with Gleaming Gale!" Tempest sliced through the air with her scythe causing a dark purple colored energy wave to shoot out tearing out the ground underneath the arena as it cut Hept in two.

 **Lucian LP: 8000-400=7600 LP**

"Next up.. I'll set a card and end my turn."

"Huh, why hasn't he used Tempest's effect?" one of the Ra Yellow close to Yujin said.

"If it's the burn effect it's more likely that he's saving those counters for a more productive card. If it's the counter placing effect, it's likely he doesn't have any fodder in hand, he probably just summoned her as a safe bet." Zephyr kindly answered to the unknown student.

"Huh, thanks for the insight. That does make sense." The student replied back happily.

"Zephyr's really something huh? He's smarter than he looks." Lazuli said

"I'm more worried about Lucian, he hasn't spoken a word after he ended his turn." Yujin was slightly biting his lip, showing signs of concern.

"I think he can do it Yujin." Sean replied, startling Yujin a bit.

"Oh hey, Sean. I kind of keep forgetting you're here."

"I get that a lot. Anyway, now I know that you guys haven't dueled in the last few three days, but Lucian spend some time changing up his deck a bit. And now it has a few more plays up its shiny golden card sleeves." Sean said.

 **Turn 3: Lucian**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 7600**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Tempest Magician (2200 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: Magical Citadel of Endymion (2 Spell Counters.), 1 face-down.**

Lucian was shaking, but he calmed down after drawing a card.  
"Oh thank god a tuner. Okay I summon **Photon Thrasher** _**(LIGHT, Warrior, Level 4, ATK:2100, DEF:0.)**_ and **Vylon Cube** _ **(LIGHT, Machine, Level 3, Tuner, ATK: 800, DEF: 800)**_. And then Synchro Summon **Black Rose Moonlight Dragon** _ **(LIGHT, Dragon, Level 7, ATK: 2400, DEF: 1800.)**_. With its effect I can return your monster back to your Extra Deck."

As he said that a bright light erupted from Moonlight Dragon that blasted Tempest shooting her back into the Extra Deck. Harold sighed as he removed the card, it was almost like he didn't care about it.

"Next up I will use my Cube's effect since he was used as material to **Vylon Material.** "

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Okay now I will –"

"No, no now I will activate **Book of Moon**. This quickplay spell can flip any monster face-down. AKA no attack for you." Harold was grinning as he interrupted his opponent. The plant dragon turning into a floating card on the field. The citadel glowed as one more counter was added to the card. **(+1 Spell Counter)**

"I… I end my turn." Lucian said rather sadly.

The entire audience gasped, almost everyone was left speechless.

"Oh no, he didn't even manage to get a single attack." Sean said.

"That's not looking good, he might not have any other potential plays and Moonlight would've been a great counter to his opponent." Zephyr stated.

"All we can do now is hope the best for him…" Yujin said, glancing as Lucian who was clearly trying to not panic.

 **Turn 4: Harold**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 7600**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field: Black Rose Moonlight Dragon (1800 DEF)**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 8000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field: Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell. 3 Spell Counters)**

"Oh how wonderful, this card is going to be very helpful. I activate **Pot of Desires.** " **(+1 Spell Counter.)**.

"Uh... what does it do?" Lucian asked

Harold and a few others started to groan. "I hope you're joking. And if you are, that's one of the most overused jokes I've heard." Harold said, a tad bit more annoyed than he should be.

"Okay, okay I get it. Now can you kindly explain the effect to me?"

"Oh it's simple my dear slacker, I banish the top 10 cards of my deck face-down and then draw 2 more cards. Oh also it as a once per turn restriction, and I of course gain another Spell Counter." Ten cards were shot from Harold's deck, as he drew two cards.

"But, why would he want to remove so many cards from his deck?"

"That's simple Yujin, in a fast paced game losing ten cards means nothing if it the resources given will establish a board that will give you victory. Plus if you activate it when you're losing anyway it can only get better. Though, it's better to use this card after searching for most of the cards you need or if you aren't at risk of banishing your 1-off key card, where as banishing a single copy of a card you run three of wouldn't matter most of the time. It's quite a popular card, even if it's a restricted **Pot of Greed.** " Zephyr pretty much lectured Yujin and most of the audience on the importance of card economics.

"Thanks again Zephyr…" Yujin really didn't know what to say at this point anymore.

"Now that the lecture is over I'll go on with my turn. I Normal Summon **Chocolate Magician Girl**." _**(WATER, Spellcaster, Level 4, ATK: 1600, DEF: 1000.)**_

A short and almost impossibly thin girl appeared on the battlefield. Wearing a blue hat in a typical fashion for most magician card, though including heart symbol with two little batwings. She wore two golden bracelets and two gloves with the same colors of her hat. She held a blue wand with the same symbol on it as her hat in her right hand. Her aquamarine colored hair cascades to her hips and beyond her blue batwings. She wore rather promiscuous clothing, that revealed the almost everything below her chest and up to her short leather miniskirt, her legs were covered in fishnet stocking and wore large blue boots that went up most of her legs. Her appearance left most duelist, both male and female uncomfortable.

"Ah yes, that's what I needed. More body image issues." A slightly chubby female Ra yellow said.

"It's just a hologram, it's just a hologram" a male Slifer said to himself, trying to not ogle the creature.

"Well wow… This might the most pandering to the male demographic card I've seen." Yujin facepalmed

"I really hope this person doesn't actually exist on Termina or whatever other world. Because this is making me feel really uncomfortable. Just why Konami, just why?" Lazuli buried her face in her hands as her cheeks were turning red.

"Jesus Christ people, it's a trading card. Get over it!" Harold scowled at the people, causing most of them to quiet down.

"Now I'll use one more Spell Power Grasp on Citadel **(+2 Spell Counters.)**. And I'll be using Choco's effect to discard 1 Spellcaster and draw 1 card. I discard **Endymion, the Master Magician.** Next up I will activate **Dark Magic Veil** " **(+1 Spell Counter.)**.

Lucian gulped, his throat was starting to get dry. Harold was grinning all the way through.

"I pay 1000 LP to Special Summon Night's End back to my field. Nights End's effect allows me to banish two cards from your Grave when Special Summoned. I banish Cube and Hept. Also, I'll use my two monsters to Synchro Summon Tempest Magician back again" As Night end jumped up again the familiar Sychro monster appeared looking furious at the face-down card that removed her in the first place.

 **Harold LP: 8000-1000=7000 LP**

"Next up, I'll remove six of my Spell Counters to activate the effect of the Endymion in my Graveyard!" Harold raised his hand as he declared his move.

"Oh no, that means you'll-" Lucian kept gulping and was even starting to sweat.

"Oh yes, this effects allows me to Special Summon him to the field. Majestic lights of serenity, preserved by prophecy, converge upon the spire of ages and awaken the divine ruler! I Special Summon **Endymion, the Master Magician!"** _ **(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 7, ATK: 2700, DEF: 1700.)**_

A tall man appeared on the field, wearing black and gold robes adorned with what appeared to be Spell Counters. Whatever skin was visible was a sickly pale gray, he had huge shoulderpads that split up in three different sections. The backpiece of the robe had a similar had to other magicians, but he wore a black and gold helmet with two horns on it that almost managed to contain Endymion's scarlet red hair. A massive purple cape moved softly through the wind between the cloak and enormous golden arc that was attached on Endymion's back. In his hand he carried a large staff that curled up with purple spikes and a floating Spell Counter.

"If Special Summoned this way I can add any Spell from my Grave, so I add back Dark Magic Veil."

"Oh man, after all of this he still has the same number of cards in hand as he started with this turn. And even has two more monsters on the field too. This isn't good for Lucian… Yujin was biting his lip while Sean and Zephyr kept watching. Though even they showed signs of being worried.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now Tempest's gonna use Gleaming Gale once again on your face-down!" Tempest sliced the air with her scythe as the shockwave destroyed Lucian's face-down.

"Endymion! Chaos Unison Attack!" The crystals on Endymion's staff lighted up as a black energy wave erupted from the floating Spell Counter hitting Lucian from multiple directions. Lucian almost fell to his knees from the blow, but managed to hang on.

 **Lucian LP: 7600-2700=4900 LP.**

"Now, in the Main Phase 2 I use Tempest's effect, feel the burn of Magestrom!" A single floating Spell Counter was slammed into Lucian's knee.

 **Lucian LP: 4900-500=4400 LP**

"Guess I will end now. Your move, slacker."

 **Turn 5: Lucian**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 4400**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 7000**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Endymion, Master Magician (2700 ATK), Tempest Magician (2200 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell.)**

Lucian looked like a nervous wreck right now. His heart beating loudly enough that Sean could hear it. He slowly drew his card, almost dropping it.

"Oh thank god, another Tuner. Okay, I'll Summon **Cyber Dragon** _ **(LIGHT, Machine, Level 5, ATK:2100, DEF:1600.)**_ and **Vylon Stella** _ **(LIGHT, Fairy, Level 3, Tuner, ATK: 1400, DEF: 200.)**_. Next I'll tune my two monsters. Great observer of the fifth heaven, let the light of the sacred star guide you to this world! Synchro Summon, **Vylon Epsilon!"** _ **(LIGHT, Fairy, Level 8, ATK: 2800, DEF: 1200.)**_

A familiar creature descended upon the battlefield. The previous ace monster used by Lucian during his duel against Yujin. The audience turned silent to see the creature basking in the natural sunlight that radiated through the windows.

"A-and then I use Stella's effect to equip it to Epsilon."

 **Lucian LP: 4400-500=3900 LP**

"I equip it with one **Vylon Material** , but use Epsilon's effect to blow both it and Endymion up." **(+1 Spell Counter)**

Stella fused to Epsilon's chest as a Vylon Material appeared in his hand, only for the mechanical angel to fling it straight into one of Endymion's golden eyes destroying him like it was nothing.

"Nice move, but no worries. He'll be back soon." Harold taunted his opponent and enjoying every minute of it.

"Now with Material leaving the field I can add another one from my Deck. And I equip Epsilon with not one, but two more!" **(+2 Spell Counters)** **(Epsilon ATK: 2800+600+600=4000)**

"Yes, he's got his boss monster out and with 4000 ATK he'll be sure to win." Sean stated, acting a bit more happy than usual.

"Not sure about that buddy, even with that much power he's still vulnerable to card effects. Beatdown only gets you this far." Zephyr said.

"I hate to say it, but Zeph's right. A simple card effect could remove it. He won't have much to go for except for hoping he can overpower his opponents while he won't draw into removal now."

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now Epsilon will attack Tempest and this time I'll make sure she stays down!" Lucian tried to sound cool, but it really didn't work since he was so obviously nervous it was painful.

 **Harold LP: 7000-1800=5100 LP  
**  
Epsilon slowly moved to Tempest who had created a magic barrier around herself, however Epsilon pierced right through it with one of the Materials he was wielding like it was nothing, and before Tempest could counterattack with her large scythe she was stabbed in the abdomen, fear and terror in her eyes before she shattered in a million pieces..

"Your move, Harold." Lucian was feeling a sense of pride rush over him. Perhaps this was his big moment to show the world?

 **Turn 6: Harold**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 3900**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Vylon Epsilon (4000 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: Vylon Stella, Vylon Material, Vylon Material.**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 3**

 **Field: Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell. 3 Spell Counters)**

"I'll activate my final Spell Power Grasp on Citadel." **(+2 Spell Counters.)**

"Oh thank god, for a second I was expecting you to do some amazing combo to kick my ass"

"Who said I was done slacker? I set 2 cards and then activate **Card of Demise.** " Everyone started losing their marbles as he activated this card.

"I can draw till I have 3 cards in my hand, at the downside of not being able to Special Summon, damage you and discarding my hand at the End Phase. But who cares, it's a plus two. Oh and I'll set two more cards, and then I hope you're ready to eat your words because I summon **Magical Something.** " _**(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 4, ATK: 1800, DEF: 1300.)**_

Harold slammed down the monster that appeared from a dark whirlpool. The being was familiar to Lucian by now, it seemed to be an older Magical Exemplar. She wore a similar baggy cloak, only black on the outside and crimson inside. It had light blue markings at the end of her sleeves, and white ones on the body. The belt she wore was golden with a Spell Counter in the middle. The more Spell Counters were visible, one at the neck of the robe and one in the afloat on her new scythe. Her hair wild and unkempt, only kind of held together by a golden headpiece resembling a laurel crown. And as one could expect there was nothing but short of absolute disgust and hatred on her face.

"Magical what?" Yujin was a bit confused.

"I guess he can't read the card's full name." Sean replied

"Maybe it's just a hard to pronounce name, so he just said something instead of the word." Zephyr said back.

"Maybe it's a foreign copy and he just doesn't remember the name." Yujin continued.

"Hey, your copy's TCG legal right? If it isn't you're cheating man!" Zephyr shouted at Harold.

"I didn't forget the name. The card is literally called Magical Something." Harold said, showing clear annoyance.

"Oh huh he's right. I just googled it. What the heck is that for a name Konami?" Yujin said in awe.

"Could be worse, it could be **Toadally Awesome**." Zephyr stated.

"Aaaand back to my duel now." Harold did not like people interrupting him.

"With Something I can remove 3 Spell Counters from her to set a Quickplay directly from my Graveyard. My Field Spell allows me to use the ones there as substitutes. I set **Book of Moon** again." **(-3 Spell Counters.)**

The three Spell Counters on Something shined for a second, only for her to grab the ones floating above her instead, they combined together to form a book which was placed face-down in Harold's Spell/Trap Card Zone as he passed his turn to Lucian.

 **Turn 7: Lucian**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 3900**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Vylon Epsilon (4000 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: Vylon Stella, Vylon Material, Vylon Material.**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 0**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Magical Something (1800 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 4 Face-Down, Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell. 3 Spell Counters)**

 **Enter Battle Phase**

Lucian didn't wait a second and immediately decided to go into the Battle Phase after drawing a card, but as he expected…

"My book shall flip your monster face-down." Harold calmly stated.

"W-w-well, my Materials are triggered. I can now add both **Vylon Component** and **Vylon Matter.** " Lucian was stuttered,

 **Enter Main Phase 2.**

"I a-a-activate **Vylon Matter**. I shuffle three equip spell into my deck and destroy your face-down. I will destroy the card I assume is the Veil you set earlier." Lucian's guess was right as the card got blown up. He moved his hand, signaling the passing of his turn.

 **Turn 8: Harold**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 3900**

 **Hand: 4**

 **Field: Vylon Epsilon (1200 DEF)**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 1**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Magical Something (1800 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 2 Face-Down, Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell. 5 Spell Counters)  
**  
As Harold drew a card he had a hard time to not smile.

"That can't be good." Lucian started to think to himself.

"I summon **Arcane Apprentice.** " _**(FIRE, Spellcaster, Level 2, Tuner, ATK: 1000, DEF: 400.)**_

Most of the people in the crowd went wild and starting cheering. Lucian's eyes widened in shock, Sean was confused, Yujin in awe and Zephyr was wondering what was gonna happen next.

"I don't get what's special about it. Looks like a regular tuner to me." Sean said while still confused.

Harold looked at Sean, and sighed. "Allow me to explain, Arcane Apprentice once used as Synchro Material can add a little handy card called **Assault Mode Activate.** " As Harold said that the penny dropped for Sean.

"That means you can summon a /Assault Mode version of a Synchro Monster!"

"Guess you do have a brain then huh. And now, to continue my turn."

"Oh no..." Lucian muttered over and over.

 **Enter Battle Phase**

"Now, I think I'll let Something have her revenge. Attack his Epsilon with Glooming Gale!" The bored look on Something's turned into a devilish smirk as she jumped up, slicing the air multiple times releasing multiple dark colored shockwaves into Epsilon.

"Next up, I'll have Arcane Apprentice attack you, but upon attack declaration I chain my face-down trap: **Magician's Circle!** This forces both of us to Special Summon a Spellcaster-Type monster with 2000 or less ATK. I summon **The Tricky"** _ **(WIND, Spellcaster, Level 5, ATK: 2000, DEF: 1200)**_

An odd looking character appeared from the circle, he wore a typical joker outfit that covered his whole body with a big red question mark on both his head and chest. His blue cape fluttered in the wind.

"Now, since your deck is Machines and Fairies I can freely attack you with both cards!"

"Not so fast! You may have your trickster, but I've got mine! I Special Summon **Performage Trick Clown.** " _**(LIGHT, Spellcaster, Level 4, ATK: 1600, DEF: 1200.)**_

Another odd character showed up from the circle, this time on Lucian's side of the field. He was balancing on a small ball with his left hand and held a metal staff with a red question mark on top.

"What, you actually teched that monster into your deck?! Damnit, then I attack him with Tricky. There's only enough place for one trickster!"

 **Lucian LP:** **3900-400=3500 LP**

Lucian coughed as he placed Trick Clown back on the field in Defense Position.

"With his effect he come right back to my field, but his ATK/DEF becomes zero and I take 1000 damage.

 **Lucian LP: 3500-1000 LP=2500 LP**

 **Enter Main Phase 2**

"That's it, I tune my Level 2 Arcane Apprentice and Level 5 The Tricky! Masterless master of jinx and charm, announce your presence from the cry of the acolyte! Synchro Summon! Ascend! **Arcanite Magician**!" _**(DARK, Spellcaster, Level 7, ATK: 400, DEF: 1800)**_

A tall grey-skinned woman descended from a magic circle that opened in the sky. She wore a large white cloak with similar markings on it as Magical Something, albeit purple in color. She wore a green magic staff in similar vein to the legendary Dark Magician. Light reflected on the purple amethyst attached on her belt into Lucian's eye distracting him a bit. On her cheeks and chin were red markings that accentuated the anger in her eyes. She assumed a defensive position to reflect the position she was summoned in.

"Upon Synchro Summoning her she gains 2 Spell Counters, and with Arcane I add **Assault Mode Activate.** Furthermore she gains 1000 ATK for each one Spell Counter on her, but I will use one of them to activate her effect. With this I can destroy 1 card you control, and since Trick Clown has a once per turn restriction that means it won't float back in. Feel her Arcane Mastery!"

The emerald orb on Arcanite's staff glowed as magical shockwaves from it destroyed Trick Clown.

"Damn it, now Lucian has no cards on the field again." Sean was starting to bite his nails as he said that.

"And I'm not done yet."

"What could you possibly do now? Wait, oh no."

"Oh yes, I have six Spell Counters on the field again. Thus I resurrect Endymion! And with his effect I once again add Dark Magic Veil! I set one card and end my turn."

 **Turn 9: Lucian**

 **Lucian**

 **Life Points: 2500**

 **Hand: 5**

 **Field: N/A**

 **Harold**

 **Life Points: 5100**

 **Hand: 2**

 **Field:  
Monsters: Magical Something (1800 ATK), Arcanite Magician (1800 DEF), Endymion, Master Magician (2700 ATK)  
Spells/Traps: 2 Face-Down, Magical Citadel of Endymion (Field Spell.)**

Lucian looked at his opponent, who kept looking at his face-downs, not even breaking a sweat while Lucian had been nervous almost all the way through the duel. And a single glance at his hand as it was now would make any person rather quit than actually begin his Draw Phase.

"Oh god, I can't do this." Lucian muttered.

"I swear to God, if you don't man up Lucian I'll kick your ass." Yujin shouted.

"It's less of a 'I'm scared' and more of a 'I have no monsters in hand' kind of thing. How am I supposed to summon something without a monster?!"

"You just gotta believe man!" Zephyr shouted.

"You've come this far, there's no way you shouldn't be able to do something this turn as well!" Sean said.

The three of them started to clap and cheer "Come on Lucian, come on Lucian." over and over, until the crowd, even some of the Ra's joined in too.

"Well… I've got nothing to lose." Lucian drew a card, it almost seemed to shine as he did. It was another spell, which was clear to everyone causing them to stop clapping.

"Actually… this Spell can come in handy. I activate **Shuffle Reborn**!"

"Shuffle what now?" Harold had never heard of this card before.

"If I have no monsters I can Special Summon 1 monster from my Graveyard, but its effects are negated and will be banished during my End Phase. I will re-summon **Vylon Stella**." The familiar Star-shaped Vylon appeared on the field.

"Hah, that won't be enough to defeat me. Are you going to try to stall now?" Harold laughed. There was nobody cheering anymore, as tension grew for everyone else but Harold and Lucian now.

"I'll take another risk and activate **Hidden Armory**. I can add any Equip Spell from my deck to my hand, then send the top card from my deck to my Graveyard, but I cannot Normal Summon this turn."

"What, is he insane?" Yujin was shocked

"He's got nothing left to lose at this point… except for all his cards." Zephyr shrugged as he responded

"Wait… is he risking all of this on… Milling another Trick Clown?" Sean realized

"Hah, that's hilarious. The probability of that happening might as well be less than 1 percent."

"There's no way that will happen." A couple of Ra's said.

"Will you two shut up before I make you shut up?!" Yujin said as he turned around, scaring the two students as Lazuli grabbed Yujin by the shoulder to calm him down as he muttered some swears.

"Come on buddy…"

"I add **Mage Power**! Now, I send the top card to my Grave." Lucian revealed the top card, iis heart beating loudly, he was nervously shivering, but he kept going on as he revealed the card… it was…

"No way…" Sean said.

"IT'S PERFORMAGE TRICK CLOWN?!" Harold was taken aback by it.

The entire audience went wild, this time everyone was surprised. The topdeck of the century some of them called it.

"I use Trick Clown's effect!" The funny looking clown appeared once again on the field.

 **Lucian LP: 2500-1000=1500 LP**

"Now I will tune the two of them! Eighteenth construct abiding in heaven, I ask of you, follow the light of the sacred star. Descend from paradise to the mortal realm of man and purify the chaos inside of our soul. Come forward great enforcer of above! Synchro Summon! Vylon Sigma!" _**(LIGHT, Fairy, Level 7, ATK: 1800, DEF: 1000.)**_

Thunderclouds somehow managed to gather over the two duelists as the whole area turned dark, everyone turned silent as a large thunderbolt struck the arena. As the flash of light went away a figure was visible, this figure was no ordinary man. It was a large angelic machine, from its silver wings to the golden arcs on its arms and back everything about it screamed angeldom. Like the other Vylon Sychro monsters it too resembled the Greek letter he was based off. As it touched the ground with its single leg like stand, Vylon Stella climbed up, fusing into its chest signifying to usage of its effect.

 **Lucian LP: 1500-500=1000 LP**

"Now I equip it with **Vylon Component** and with not one, but two **Mage Power!"**

"That means you don't only get piercing but-"

"Also due to each **Mage Power** I get 1000 ATK for each card in my S/T card zone. So that means he gains 4000 ATK."  
 **(Sigma ATK= 1800+2000+2000=5800 ATK)**

A magical aura spread around Sigma, as he used his left hand to take hold on Vylon Component. He looked ready to stab multiple monsters.

 **Enter Battle Phase.**

The crowd started clapping and stamping their feet to the beat of famous Queen Song 'We Will Rock You', some were even singing the lyrics.

"I'll activate **Assault Mode Activate**. I send Arcanite Magician to the grave and summon **Arcanite Magician/Assault Mode.** " _**(LIGHT. Spellcaster. Level 9. ATK: 900. DEF: 2300.)**_

Harold felt he was forced to summon her prematurely as he activated his trap card. Arcanite went from a previous defensive position to one more suited for offense as she discarded her white robes, revealing black and orange colored armor underneath.

"She gains 2 Spell Counters, and for these she gains 2000 ATK." **(Arcanite ATK: 900+2000=2900 ATK.)**

"Fine then, I will attack her with Sigma. And when he's alone and attacking a monster I can equip one equip spell from my deck to him, I choose the **Twin Swords of Flashing Light – Tryce.** Now while Sigma would normally lose 500 ATK."

"With Mage Power you still gain 500… Well then, I activate my trap card. **Gagaga Shield.** This shield will be given to my Arcanite. And with its effect up to twice per turn I can protect her from destruction. So my monster cannot be destroyed by battle!"

"But you still take damage!"

 **(Sigma ATK = 5800+500=6300 ATK.)**

Two brightly colored swords appeared in Sigma's hands as it and the user blinked out of existence only to appear behind Arcanite, in one fell swoop it attacked, only for her to pull out a magical shield out of nowhere to protect her from the strike. A laserbeam from Sigma's chest fired as well, showing the activation of Stella's effect. The crowd was getting more and more excited, though still singing and clapping along with the previously mentioned song.

 **Harold LP: 5200-3400=1800 LP**

"… I still survived. And next turn I'll destroy your monster and attack for game."

"I'm sorry, but Tryce has a special effect that allows Sigma to attack twice. And you know what. I think I should live up to my promise. I'll attack Magical Something for game. And this time it won't be coming back."

It didn't even taken a second after he finished his sentence or Something had been cut down by Sigma. She together with Harold's LP slowly faded before his eyes.

 **Harold LP: 2800-4500=0 LP**

 **WINNER: Lucian**

The crowd started to hum "We are the Champions", almost everyone hummed along. Yujin, Zephyr and Sean rushed over to Lucian to congratulate him.

"Thank you so much Lucian, I honestly can't believe you wanted to sacrifice your own deck for mine."

"It was nothing Sean, you would've done the same."

Harold was stomping his foot angrily. "I cannot believe I lost to some lucky Slifer!"

"To be fair, you could have easily avoided your loss if you added Book of Moon with Endymion and set that. It was your mistake to assume that he wouldn't have had a field that was gonna oppose a major threat. You expected that instead of him summoning a single monster that was gonna affect the flow of the game that you could sit behind Gagaga shield and let Arcanite survive and then win the next turn using the Assault Mode version. It was your cockiness that got into your own way. Of course you could have predicted there was a possibility he drew into some form of spell/trap card removal like Mystical Space Typhoon and acted upon that, but there was less chance of that happening and more chance of him trying to go for a single Synchro." Zephyr said, explaining the reason Harold lost.

"I really do not need you to rub salt in my wounds!"

"Now, I think you need to return my deck back to me."

"Fuck you! Why would I?" As Harold said that a door opened and a calm, but stern voice replied back to him saying:

"Because if you don't, I'm afraid I have to expell you mister Copper." As the light shined on his face it was clear it was the Chancellor, Michael Amato. Upon his arrival almost everyone went silent.

"H-how did you know what was going on, and how did you arrive here?" Harold stammered.

"Well, he got the news from me." From behind mister Amato appeared Gabriel.

"And Gabriel got it from me." Lucian said.

"Wait what?" Harold was confused.

"Me and Sean were stalling for time, I messaged my brother and told him what happened. he said I had to keep you at one place so he could get someone to help. I tried to keep the duel as long as possible, so you wouldn't just leave. I cannot believe I won though."

"You tricked me, you asshole!"

"I wouldn't say tricked more… Yeah actually, I tricked you."

Harold was fuming with anger as he lashed out, trying to punch Lucian. Yet out of the blue his arm was grabbed by mister Amato and he was pinned to the ground.

"Tch tch tch mister Copper. I don't think I can allow you to hit one of my students. You lost fair and square due to your own incompetence. It was your lack of skills that have driven you to this, it was your very weakness that drove you to steal. And yet you try to act like it's the fault of others? How pathetic."

"Let me go, I am a student here. You can't do this to me!"

"Oh, but as of now you aren't a student. You're expelled for breaking the following rules: organizing illegal forms of gambling, stealing and physical assault. Now get up, give his deck back and pack your stuff. The rest of you, leave me and mister Copper alone. We're going to have a long talk." mister Amato was awfully calm during the whole event, not even breaking a sweat. He kept smiling while all of this was happening. It creeped most of the students out as they quietly left.

"Oh and Lucian?"

"Y-Y-yes sir?" Lucian was nervous, he was hoping he wouldn't get into trouble for this.

"Your parents would be surely proud of you now. Keep up the good work, you might advance to Ra Yellow in a few months if you continue like this." Mister Amato still smiled, though this time much more sincere. He tossed the deck box with Sean's deck into Lucian's hands before he grabbed Harold up.

"Now, that seems to have fixed itself. See you later little bro." Gabriel put his hands behind his head and walked away with a smug grin on his face.

"Man, we gotta celebrate this." Zephyr said.

"Don't we have a test to study for?" Yujin interjected.

"We deserve a break, don't we?" Lucian was smiling while he replied.

"I brought my Wii U with me, We can play some Mario Kart 8 or Super Smash Brothers there." Sean said, relieved his deck was back.

"Sure why not." Lucian said shrugging as they decided to leave to celebrate.


End file.
